


Last Ones Out

by turntechG0dhead



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2020-02-10 04:35:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 42,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18653005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turntechG0dhead/pseuds/turntechG0dhead
Summary: Shouts from the living and groans from the dead surround the area near the train station. Only minutes before, Violet, Louis, and Marlon had been out, checking the traps and looking for food. It’s so strange to Violet, despite years of sudden actions, how quickly they can go from the mundane to pulling two people out of a car that’s managed to flip entirely upside-down.[EDIT 11/7: indefinite hiatus]





	1. Chapter 1

_Clementine_. Clementine. Clem... The name wouldn't stop running through her mind. Nonstop. It felt like it had been hours, days, weeks, since she had last seen the shorter girl. Since she had pushed her forward, telling her to continue on without her, that she and AJ would make their way back. It had only been around 30 minutes since she had last seen her. But those 30 minutes were painful. A painful wait. Would she make it back? Would AJ make his way back with painful news? Would Clem come back, broken, without the sweet, yet scary, little boy? Or.... Or what? Days could pass, with no sign. They could've disappeared, or been found by any stupidly daring stragglers from the Delta. Or perhaps they could see two shambling corpses waltzing towards the (currently) crumbled gates, bloodied, eyes sunken in and flesh rotted. A shocking shot to the heart, showing them what they lost in their attempt to save something else.

Violet paces. She doesn't know what else to do. Everything hurts. It all hurts so badly, from her head to her stump of a pinky-finger. She knows she should be helping try and fix the walls, but immediately after they had finished killing the walkers that decided that the school would be a nice place to kick their grimy feet up, everyone left Violet alone. Alone to her thoughts. _Alone_. That's how Violet feels. She’s surrounded by people, surrounded by her friends, all of which managed to live... it was.... almost miraculous. So little went well in the crumbling hell of a world the walked, yet this time, they all _survived_. Everyone except.... Violet leans up against the moss covered wall, and slides down until she's sitting with her knees to her chest. Not everyone. She couldn't say that yet. Couldn't confirm it until she saw them alive. 

Violet almost can’t stop herself from crying in near happiness as a realization hits her. _Her friends are alive_. They lived. All of them. Louis. Tenn. Ruby. Aasim. Omar. Willy. Mitch. Brody. Minnie. Marlon... All of them. Some of them injured, near-fatally so, even, but still alive. All of them. Almost. They had lost so many over the years. So, so many. If asked, Violet would say it had been so long, she couldn't even remember some of their names. A lie, is what that would be. Each and every one of their faces she could see, as clear as day. Fresh in her mind, as if she had just spoken to them that morning. It hurt. She may not have been close to them, or even truly been friends with them, but when you live with someone in a small area for so long, it's hard not to like them, even if just a little.

She rests her head back against the wall, looking up at the dark sky, smoke still curling around from the dying fires, framing the stars like a picture on a wall. She takes in a deep breath, closing her eyes. Clem was still out there. So was AJ. And.... christ... Violet hadn't even thought about her, but.... Sophie was out there too. She had disappeared into the woods with the explosion, as the walkers came. Violet can feel her face pale, if it was even possible for it to pale any more than it was already. Blood loss from a machete'd finger will do that to a person. She grimaces at her own thoughts. She lifts her injured hand up, so she can get a look at it. The blood is caked over the wound, already turning brown. She would gag if she hadn't seen much worse. She lowers her hand again, and lets out a breath she didn't realize was being held in.

"Oh fuck!" a voice shouts, shrill and panicked from the watchtower. Violet shoots to her feet. Willy practically jumps from the top, and everyone capable of doing so runs to the gaping hole in the wall where their proud gate once stood. Violet's eyes widen at the sight of AJ and Sophie, both of them practically covered in bright, fresh blood mixed with muddy walker innards, pushing a wheelbarrow. She doesn't even have to look to know what they were pushing. Or, more accurately, _who_ They were pushing.

"Shit." Is all she can say, before rushing forwards. 

 

 _2 And A Half Weeks Ago_ … 

 

Shouts from the living and groans from the dead surround the area near the train station. Only minutes before, Violet, Louis, and Marlon had been out, checking the traps and looking for food. It’s so strange to Violet, despite years of sudden actions, how quickly they can go from the mundane to pulling two people out of a car that’s managed to flip entirely upside-down. How this girl who seemed to be around their age, and this boy who couldn’t be older than 6 managed to get a car working is beyond her, but that won’t get her to stop her walker-killing spree. She lets out a grunt as she rips her butcher’s knife out of a walker’s skull, pushing the permanently-dead body into another. 

“Violet, I got this, get the girl out!” Louis shouts from besides the driver’s side door, standing up and swinging his stupid weapon, Chairles, around and into a dangerously close walker’s head. “I can’t get her out, the seatbelts on tight.” He says as she rushes past him and to the door. From the other side of the car, Marlon finally frees the young boy, dragging the unconscious child out of the flipped car, and holding him bridal style in his arms. 

“No… please.” Violet hears from the girl in the car. Panicked, yet soft. She crouches down, pulling the door open as best as she could, and reaches over the girl to reach the button for the seatbelt. She grimaces at the dead walker laying on what _should_  be the ceiling of the car. Clicking the button roughly, she tries her best to gently get the girl from hanging upside down in her seat, to right-side up. Violet huffs, dragging the girl out of the car. 

“Hurry, come on! We don’t know if the car is gonna blow, and I do not want to hang around to find out!” Marlon shouts, doing his best to maneuver around the dead, unable to do much else with the child in his arms. Louis rushes over to Violet, lifting up the girl, and putting her on his back. 

Grabbing her butcher’s knife once again, feeling the worm leather handle fitting perfectly in her hand as she swings it around, lodging itself into the side of a walker’s skull with a sickening crunch. Ripping it out gives off a disgusting _squelch_ , and she swings it around once more time, right through the top of another’s head. She puts her foot onto its’ now bent knee as it crumples, pushing it down so she can easily rip the knife out of its’ skull. 

“Violet, come the fuck on!” Marlon shouts, looking back one more time before charging past a few walkers, Louis with the girl hot on his trail. 

“Shit, okay!” She shouts back. She prepares to run after them, before she spots a blue and white, well-worn hat resting a few feet away from the crash. She grabs it, before breaking after her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vddnggdndgnb sorry if the way this is.. is like. Weird??? As in it starts where it does before cutting to the beginning? Idk i thought it fit but it may seem weird!!!! But YEAH. Basically just shits changed so everyone comes out alive i suppose?? Minnie didnt kill sophie, marlon doesnt kill brody etc!!!!!! And also some.,, creative liberties will be taken!!!! But yeah i hope. Yall enjoyed this and potentially enjoy the future chapters!!! 
> 
> My update schedule is wack btw,, ill do my best to upload as i write i guess, bc honestly? I can NOT handle waiting for updates of comics n stuff so why make yall wait?? 
> 
> Also, one more thing, brody/sophie will be a thing, and im CONSIDERING aasim/louis but im not sure. If yall got any suggestions ill listen! Only things set in stone for the time being are clem/violet and brody/sophie thergkrghehffeh
> 
> Ps the name of this isnt anything to do with the story ngl i couldnt think of anything and i was listening to mitski so idk
> 
> edit: my bad i fucked up the paragraphs so the second lil part was just. a big ol chunk a text asdjkfhaskdfs


	2. Chapter 2

A stray beam of light shines through the gaps of a barred window in the dorm room. Its sole occupant groans, lifting an arm to rub at her eyes, blinking awake. She hesitates for a moment, confused by the seemingly sudden change of scenery, before realizing something.

"AJ." Clem gasps, jolting upright as far as she can. Held back by her arm. How had she not noticed that she was tied to the bed? She reaches over herself, ripping off the tape, which clearly wasn't meant to keep _her_ contained. Not her while she was living, at least.

Clem swings her legs around, so she now sits on the edge of the mattress, feet now flat on the ground. If she panicked, or burst out of the room like a mad-woman, she'd probably get shot, or something like that. She wouldn't blame them for doing something like that. After all, she'd likely do the same.

She decides to take a bit of time to examine the room before trying to make her way out. On the opposite side of the room, is a near identical bunk bed, with a dresser between. On top, is a medical kit and a bottle of pills. Clem pushes herself to her feet, picking up the bottle, looking at it, before bringing a hand to her head. She didn't have her hat, and her head had bandages wrapped around. She winces as she brushes her fingers over the wound being covered on the right side of her head, and bringing her hand down she can tell that some blood had certainly soaked through.

She brings her eyes slightly up, setting the bottle of pills back down. Not much is visible through the window. Boarded up shoddily, with thin metal bars spaced out nearly wide enough to fit a very small person through. Clem walks over to the door. She takes a breath, trying the handle. She curses softly under her breath, yet can't bring herself to be surprised to find that it's locked. Time to check the room some more, she supposes. Just to the left of the door, is a closet with a shelf high above. Clem is certain she can see a box, with likeness to a tackle or toolbox, sitting at the top. She reaches up the best she can, but grumbles when she can do no more than lightly touch the front of it. Curse her and her short height.

Clem turns around. At the foot of the other bunk bed, is a table, and chair. She grins, grabbing the chair, and drags it over to the closet. She jumps onto it, pulling the box down with success, before stepping off the chair, and dropping it onto the wooden table. The box is covered in colorful stickers, and the inside was full of... Art supplies. Clem shrugs to no one in particular, when her eyes land on a knife-looking object. That'll work. 

With success, Clem manages to unlock the door with the knife, before opening it slowly, carefully. She looks around, before pushing it open, and closes it quietly behind her. 

A massive hallway is a surprising sight. Directly in front of her, is a tall and empty trophy case with broken glass. To her right, the hallway is blocked off with a massive pile of furniture. The walls are covered in writing, ranging from threats to something about an "Ericson". To the left, the hallway reaches a turn, and there are doors lining the hall. Clem slowly creeps down the hall, and glances around the corner. At the end of the hall, is a door larger than the others. She glances around, preparing to walk towards it, when the handle suddenly rotates. Clem silently gasps, spinning around, and hiding herself beside the trophy case. 

A boy, a few years younger than her walks towards the door, reaching to unlock the door. As he realizes it's open, he pulls a knife out of his pocket, glancing around. Clem hesitates for a moment, unsure of what to do. These people didn't kill her. They saved her from the car crash. She shakes her head at herself, before standing up.

"I'm right here." she says, her tone without anger, yet not kind. The boy doesn't turn, but his grasp doesn't loosen on his knife as he brings his hands above his head. "Drop the knife." Clem says.

"How about you do the same?" A voice says suddenly from the right. Mentally cursing herself, Clem takes a step back, hands clenching her own knife. A shadowed figure aims a boy at her. She tenses up, and the person takes a step forward. "We have your boy, he's safe. We can take you to see him." Clem grits her teeth, hesitating. Finally, she tosses the knife onto the ground in front of her.

"Your turn." She says. Clem relaxes slightly as the person lowers the bow, and walks into the light of the window. The boy that had raised his hands above his head goes to stand beside him, and it's easier for her to get a good look.

The young boy has hair that reminds her of AJ's if it was much shorter. On the right side of his head is a large, pink scar. He couldn't be older than 13, Clem decides. He wears slightly-too-big clothes, with small holes in them, and tall, red boots.

The older boy however, must be a few years older than she is. He is taller than Clem, with blond hair, shaved at the sides. A gray jacket with a big red "E" peeling off of it, reminding Clem of her missing hat, covers a red striped shirt.

"We aren't gonna hurt you." The blonde boy says. He places the bow on his back. "I'm Marlon, and the little guy's Tennessee, or Tenn, for short. He's been taking care of you." Marlon places his hand on Tenn's shoulder.  
Tenn looks to the ground, not meeting Clem's eyes. Marlon pauses for a moment.

"He, uh, doesn't talk much." Marlon says. Clem crosses her arms over her chest, resting her weight on one leg.  
"Clementine." She responds, and Marlon nods.

"Yeah..." He hesitates. "Sorry about all that. The, locking the door and taping you to the bed, thing, that is. You weren't in the best condition when we found you. Had to take precautions, y'know?" Clementine nods.  
"I get it. Like you said, I was in rough shape." Marlon chuckles at this.

"To say the least, sure. It must've been tough out there. For, the both of you." Marlon looks down, hands on his hips. "But yeah. Didn't mean to scare you. Just being cautious. Sorry if it... came off the wrong way." A brief moment of silence takes over the hall, before Marlon continues.

"Anyways, you're safe now, the both of you. Let's go see your boy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna do my best to make the dialogue not the EXACT same as the game, even if by this point the story is the same. It gets a bit redundant after the first few fics, yknow? also, im basically just writing the whole season 4 to change it. there will most likely (like... 99% likely) also be story post-game!!! hope yall enjoy ajkshdkasdfsj


	3. Chapter 3

Violet finds herself sitting atop the wall, watching into the woods beyond the safety of the school. Her back laying against the mossy, aging stone as she watches the shambling walkers through the trees. It's quiet, unusually so. It's unsurprising, with Louis and Ruby doing their best with the kid in the music room, and Marlon with Tenn going to check on the girl. Everyone was typically quiet, aside from Louis, when they weren't grouped together. 

A single, sharp whistle cuts through the quiet. Tenn. Violet sits up, looking down at the boy. He points in the direction of the dorms. The girl was awake, a bandage wrapped around her head, stained with blood, and walking with Marlon. The two girls' eyes meet for a moment, before the stranger looks towards Marlon, responding to whatever he's going on about. 

Violet pulls one of her legs to her right, so it dangles off of the wall. 

"Is that safe?" Tenn asks, rubbing his arm, head tilted. Violet shrugs.

"I'll be fine as long as no one shoves me, I guess." She jokes. Tenn smiles slightly, before turning around to look at where Marlon's arms are outstretched in an extravagant manner, speaking loudly. 

"Ruby said the boy that she was with is kind of mean." Violet hesitates before responding.

"Well, Ruby isn't very good at introductions. Remember when she first came to Ericson's, before all.... this?" Tenn giggles a little at this, nodding.

"Yeah... she was kind of mean to people then too, I guess." He looks back up to Violet. "But she's nice now. I'm glad she's our friend." Violet can't help but smile a little. This boy, despite years of madness and death, still had the biggest heart of anyone she had ever met. 

Willy yells something from across the yard, in the watchtower. Marlon visibly groans, before yelling something back, and turning back to the girl. He jogs across the yard towards Willy, and the girl glances around, looking at Violet once more.

Violet hesitates, surprised, before looking back into the woods. When she looks back, the door to the admin building is already swinging shut.

"Clementine's nice." Tenn says. Violet arches an eyebrow. 

"Who?"

"The girl."

"Oh." Violet internally kicks herself. No shit, that was the girl. They didn't have anyone in the school named Clementine. Well, anyone else.

"How can you tell?" Violet asks. She could've been lying, or faking, for all they knew.

"In the hallway, she had one of Sophie's old palette knives. She could've attacked me, but instead she just... Told me where she was." He rubs his arm again. "If she was bad, I think she would have just attacked me, or something. I think she just cares a lot about the boy a lot. She was scared." 

Violet's gaze drifts into the woods again. Her eyes follow one of the walkers as it stumbles about mindlessly. Tenn remains silent. Just as she's about to respond, the door to the admin building flies open, slamming against the wall. Violet looks over, ready to jump off of the wall to see what was happening. Ruby.

The redhead seems to be fuming as she huffs and puffs, stomping her way over to Tenn and Violet. 

"Are you okay? What happened?" Tenn asks. Ruby juts her hand forward into his face, presenting her palm for him to look.

"That boy in there bit me!" Ruby huffs angrily. She takes a deep breath, exhaling heavily, trying to calm herself down. "Tenn, would you try and help me get a bandage on it or somethin'?" She asks. Tenn nods quickly.

"Sure, okay." He says. Violet sighs as the two walk away, leaving her alone to watch the walkers once more.

Either luckily, or unluckily, Violet can't decide, Marlon breaks her away from the quiet.

"Violet! Get that flat ass into gear." 

"Fuck you!" Violet says, flipping him off. Marlon ignores that, continuing.

"We got walkers to deal with. Brody, Mitch, and Aasim can't get in safely." 

Violet lowers herself down onto the picnic table, just below where she was sitting. Her feet hit the wood with a dull thud. She jumps onto the dirt, making her way over to the smaller side gate. She peers through the steel bars, hands gripping them as if she were some angry prisoner as she watches the walkers from this new angle.

She hears footsteps behind her. Violet glances over her shoulder. Louis and the two newcomers.

“Where the hell is Rosie at?” Marlon huffs from behind her.

“You got your weapon back?” A small shuffle of movement. “Good. You’re gonna have to put it to use in a second here. Our hunting party’s stuck out there, and we’ve got to clear a path.”

“There’s been a lot more walkers than usual lately.” Marlon adds under his breath. Violet turns to face the small group. The bandage around Clem’s head had been removed, and replaced with the baseball cap she had grabbed at the crash.

“It’s almost as if something drew their attention. Maybe… I don’t know, an explosion… or a car crash?” She crosses her arms over her chest.

“Vi…” Marlon starts. She arches an eyebrow at him.

“What? I’m just saying…” 

“I had no idea any of that mess was going to happen. I’m sorry if it’s been causing you guys problems.” Clementine says, genuinely. Violet looks to the ground, expression softening from her previous stern one. She turns to face the gate again, arms still crossed. Louis clears his throat.

“Hello, Clementine. I’m Violet. It’s nice to meet you.” Louis says in a truly terrible impression of Violet. She glances behind her.

“Yeah. What he said.” Violet doesn’t bother to say any more, and has no reason to, as Willy starts shouting from the tower above them.

“All right you guys. They’re making their way towards us. Start clearing a path!” He shouts. Violet pushes the door open, and makes her way through, Marlon just behind. Faintly from the gate, she can make out Louis’ loud voice.

“Don’t mind Violet. She’ll grow on you.” She rolls her eyes to herself as she grabs her knife, and prepares to start killing some walkers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There! This ones a liiiiittle shorter than the last two, and it took a bit longer, but thats bc i was writing a lil somethin thatll come later!!! Im super excited for it and i hope yall will enjoy it when it comes time :ᴅ


	4. Chapter 4

Clem holds a death grip on her knife as she steps out from the safety of the school, and into the walker-infested woods. Violet, Louis, and Marlon have already started hacking away at the walkers as Clem makes her way towards her first. She lifts a leg slightly, kicking the walker just above the knee. The walker crumples down into an almost-kneeling position. Clem swings her knife around, the blade embedding itself into its head. She grunts as she rips it out with a sickening _squelch_ , taking a deep breath as she looks around.

The butcher’s knife in Violet’s hand is lodged deep into a walker’s skull. The blonde uses her foot, pressing it against the walker’s body, kicking it down, and prying the knife out. A walker approaches her from the front. An arrow flies from her left, slicing straight through its head, and it topples. Violet looks to Marlon, who gives a half-assed thumbs up, and nods.

Clem turns around, a walker having started making its way towards her, and repeats what she had done prior, what she had done for years. She learned a lot from her short amount of time in Savannah, yet she would never forget any of it. It was the least she could do to preserve the Lee’s memory, and the memory of those she had traveled with just after the train. 

The train… Clem can’t help but smile sadly to herself. They only spent such a small amount of time on that train... It had actually been the first time she had ever been on one. As she pries the knife out of the second walker's head, Louis shouts behind her.

"Very nice, Clem! But I think you can do better than that... Watch and learn!" He laughs. He turns to a walker, and whistles at it. It turns to him with a moan, and begins to limp towards him, arms held up in his general area, reaching forward. Louis pulls a knife from his side, and slices through a rope attached to a tree. Baffled, Clem watches as a massive rock falls from the treetop, crushing the walker. 

"And _that's_ how it's done!" He says with a grin. "There's traps like that one all over the place, feel free to go wild!" 

Clem nods. She approaches a small group of trees, with x's marking the ground in different spots. A walker steps onto one of them, and Clem slashes through the rope holding another massive rock high in the air. It slams to the ground, crushing the walker with a series of sickening cracks. Clem can't help but wince. It would _not_ be fun to get caught under one of those. 

Time for more... generally mindless walker killing. Sure, it was important to be clear-headed when death was one mistake away, but when you spend... a good half of your life doing the same thing, it's hard not to get lost in thought. This time, Clementine's mind brought her to Kenny. Someone who had been with her for so long. He had been there since the beginning. Sure, they had lost each other, but that unexpected reunion made up for all of the time spent apart. _Crunch_. 

She almost didn't recognize him at first. Almost. What, with his big bushy beard, it would be hard to recognize anyone. But still, she knew. Clem hadn't hesitated to launch herself at the man, a million thoughts racing through her mind, yet the only one that made sense in the moment, that remained after years, was two words. 'Holy shit'. _Shnk_. Clem does her best to wipe some of the blood off of her face. That one had been messy.

Of course, with the thoughts of happy reunions, come those of the fateful endings. _Crunch_. Kenny's death had been sudden, unexpected. He didn't get a touching funeral, or even a heartfelt goodbye. _Shnk_. No, Clem had to run, to save AJ, with no time to do much of anything but run, and cry as he was eaten alive behind her. _Crunch_. A sacrifice, that so far, had not been wasted. _Shnk_. 

"Uh, jeez, Clem. You good there? That was like, the fastest I've ever seen someone take down a small group of walkers." Louis asks. Clementine snaps out of her thoughts, and looks down. She shrugs, rubbing the back of her head. Three walkers, laid to their final rest just around her on the ground.

"Over here!" Marlon shouts suddenly. They all rush around him, just across a small bridge. Three people approach them holding torches and rabbits. The hunting party. 

"Nice timing. Not sure how much longer we could've held them off." Violet says.

"No kidding! Where'd all these walkers come from, anyways?" The girl in the middle says. She sounds like an... enthusiastic person. She wears a faded orange vest over a dull, blue striped shirt. Clem can't help but notice how blue her eyes are.

"Look, we'll talk when we're back inside the school. Make sure you watch out for any stragglers." Marlon says, before starting his way back to the school. 

The group of 7 spreads apart, with Clem walking beside Violet.

"You're... not half bad, considering the circumstances. And all that." Violet says, looking anywhere but towards Clem. Clem looks at her for a moment, before smiling a bit.

"Thanks."

"Let's just finish the rest of them off. Don't want them attracting anymore towards the school." Violet says, Clem nodding in response. Violet rushes towards a walker, while Clem hones in on a walker crawling along its stomach, an arrow sticking out of its back. She sinks her knife into its skull, before looking up to see one of the three in the hunting party shooting another with a bow and arrow.

"Piece of shit." He grumbles as he rips the arrow out of its head, unaware of the walker creeping up behind him. He shouts as it grabs him, and he spins around, pushing it off the best he can. Clem rushes forward, stabbing the walker in the head so roughly that her knife jabs out the other side, just inches from the boy's face. She yanks it out, spinning around just as another walker grabs her wrists. She pushes it back, its face drawing nearer to her own, so close that she can practically _feel_ the smell radiating off of its body.

Suddenly, a bark rips through the air. The walker is ripped off of her, and Clem stumbles back, hand still gripping her knife. Her hands shake as she watches the large, brown dog crush through the walker's skull like butter. The dog growls, making its way towards Clem. She takes a few steps back, trying to maintain distance between her and the bloody mouth of the dog. Her breathing quickens, her hands shake more. The last time Clem had seen a dog, it bit her, and ended with her locked in a shed to sew the wound up herself. Clem could feel panic start to set in, her knife held between her and the dog like some sort of barrier, ready, if needed, to defend-

"Woah! Hey, it's okay, good girl, good girl! Shh, it's okay, Clem's good!" Marlon says, rushing over, petting the dog. The dog instantly raises up, her stump of a tail wagging. Clem takes another step back, just for good measure. "Sorry about that. Rosie's... very protective of everyone. You good?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. Clem evens out her breathing by taking in a deep breath, nodding.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just... Had a bad experience with a dog once." Marlon nods sympathetically.  
"Well, I'm sure Rosie here could help you get over it." He says with a slight smile. "Rosie here is one of the sweetest dogs you could fine. That is, when she isn't mauling walkers." With that, the conversation is over, and everyone gathers around.

The boy who Clem saved, yet nearly stabbed in the face, approaches from the side, and she's finally able to get a look at him that isn't a life-threatening situation. He wears a flannel hoodie, his hair is dark, and he has... a soul patch? Interesting, but okay.

"That walker basically came out of no where." He says, offering her a nod, which she returns.  
"Now that the fun's over, let's get out of here. I'm fucking starving out here." Marlon says, arms outstretched to the air as he turns to the school, making his way towards the walls. Clem can't help but agree. She hadn't eaten in... days, actually.

The group walks together this time, generally quiet, until Marlon breaks it.

"How'd it go?" He asks simply. The boy with the soul patch sighs, frustrated.

"How well do you think?" He snaps. The blue-eyed girl glares angerlessly at him.

"Aasim, be nice." 

"The safe zone's practically dry. There was hardly anything for tonight." The boy, Aasim continues, not responding to the girl. "We'll have to start going past the safe zone if we want enough food for the winter." Marlon glances over his shoulder at Clem.

"We'll talk about this later." Marlon says. Aasim walks ahead, stopping in front of Marlon.

"Bullshit! We can talk about this _right_ now." Marlon walks right past him, not hesitating to move him with his shoulder.

"I said _later_ , dammit!" Marlon says, walking up ahead with the girl. Aasim stops, sighing, before following behind. 

Louis jogs up besides Clem, with Violet to his left.

"Violet, I have to say, that was a B-plus performance back there. You've certainly done better." He says. Violet huffs, flipping him off.

"Fuck off." Louis fakes a hurt expression, before he turns to Clem.

"B-minus then. You, however, Clem, earned yourself a solid A-plus." He says. Clem shakes her head, smiling slightly. She hesitates for a second, glancing at Violet.

"Uh, you kicked ass, Violet. That'll be an A-plus from me." Violet looks away, but Clem can see the smile tugging at her mouth.

"I know." She says. Louis huffs.

"You two? Absolutely delusional." He says as they come up on the wall, finally back to the school. Clem was sure AJ was worried, and she was going to make sure he knew she wouldn't let anything happen anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there!!!! the hunting party.... safe. this chapter has a LOT of dialogue. if any of it seems weird, please tell me! im really bad at telling if a line of dialogue seems... off when im the one who writes it rip
> 
> also, sadly mitch got like, NO screentime at all, sadly, but NEVER FEAR! he will have a bigger part than he does in the game, coming up here soon! same goes for aasim. im hoping to give all the 'background' schoolkids their times to shine. i especially cant wait for chef god omar, bless his heart, for his own time.
> 
> with that, we grow closer and closer to the basement scene. that one has had a LOT of thought and planning put into it (compared to most (emphasis on the most) of this fic) and i cannot wait.
> 
> if the parts where clems thinking back to past stuff seem too long pls let me know. i tend to drag on parts like that, bc i love writing them. also, clem with rosie? definitely gonna make it more obvious that rosie freaks clem out. like, seriously, out of all unrealistic things in the game,how quickly clem got over that fear of dogs bothered me the most.
> 
> and ONE LAST THING  
> i hope it was obvious, but just in case, the italicized "crunch"s are when clem kills the walkers, and the "shnk"s are when she rips the knife out of the heads!!! 
> 
> (im so sorry these notes are so long i talk... a lot rip)


	5. Chapter 5

Only a short amount of time has passed since everyone was safely returned to the school, unharmed. Everyone was scattered about, doing generally their own thing as they waited for Omar to finish preparing dinner. Violet found herself in their small graveyard, watching over Tenn as he prepared a small bundle of flowers to rest on his sisters' graves. It had almost been a full year since the twins had been killed. She looks at the few flowers in her own hands.

Violet couldn't help but blame herself for swapping jobs with Brody that day. She blamed herself for fucking up her friendship with Brody, too. The two had distanced each other after they had lost the girls. Previously, they had practically been attached at the hip, the closest of best friends. Now, however, Violet couldn't help but feel bitterness towards the girl. Sure, she had long forgiven the other girl. She couldn't blame her. Why she was still angry? Violet couldn't help but be used to being upset with her. She frowns to herself at her own thoughts. God, not even in her own mind could she not be an asshole.

"Hey." Violet's self-destructive line of thought is cut short by Clementine and AJ. Violet faces them, expression still unhappy.

"What's this?" AJ asks about the two of them.

"It's our graveyard." Violet decides to answer. Tenn looks down. She can tell that he's fidgeting, even with his back turned.

"You... still do that?" Clementine asks suddenly. Curiously. Violet can't help but wonder what she meant by that. How many people had been put down out there, without a final place to rest? 

"Kind of."

"Who's, uh, buried here?" The girl asks. Violet looks away, towards the graves themselves.

"No one, actually. This is where we buried Tenn's sisters' stuff. Minnie and Sophie. Twins. Lost 'em both about a year ago." A short moment without speaking. Tenn finally goes down, resting a few of the flowers onto the mound of dirt where Sophie's grave is. AJ looks up at Violet curiously. "Paying respects." She says with a small smile.

The little boy looks away, down to the graves, before up to Clementine.

"Should we do that to?" He asks her. "Maybe?" Clem hesitates a moment.

"I think that'd be a real nice thing to do, AJ." She finally answers, a small smile on her face. Violet passes him the flowers she was holding, letting him join Tenn. The older boy looks to AJ and smalls a little.

"Thanks." 

Violet stands next to Clementine, the two of them watching the boys. This was the first time that the two of them were near enough to each other for Violet to get a real good look at her, aside from when they first brought Clem to the school. Even then, she had practically been covered in walker guts. She can see in the low light that she has a large scar on her forehead, disappearing into her eyebrow. Violet couldn't help but agree with what Tenn had said earlier that day, about them being good people. Violet frowns to herself again as AJ gets up, and both him and Clem leave. She isn't sure if she would be able to pay respects to someone she had never met, with people she had only known for a day.  
Tenn stays down to the ground, rolling one of the flower's stems between his fingers, the plant spinning slightly. 

"I think they're good people." She says. He looks up to her and smiles, tilting his head a little.

"I think so too." He pauses, thinking. "I hope Marlon lets them stay. I think he will." Violet nods slightly.

"Marlon's a big galoot, but under all that asshole, he's got a big heart." Tenn giggles at this, and Violet flashes a smile. 

She and Marlon weren't the closest of friends, even before the twins’ deaths. Hell, they don’t get along half the time. Louis seemed intent on not ever letting them sit alone in a room together, afraid to come back with one of them killing the other. Honestly, Louis was just being dramatic. The two blondes just enjoyed ragging on each other. When the twins had first gone died, Violet first pointed fingers at him. Two particularly crude fingers, actually. Then, the fingers pointed to Brody, and finally to herself. 

After Violet had calmed down, and everyone sort of… accepted that what happened was over and done with, she was never able to put much effort into fixing her friendships with Brody and Marlon. At least with Marlon, he practically seemed to forget about how much of an asshole she was to him and everyone else the first few weeks.

Tenn gets to his feet, just as Louis starts hollering into the night. Dinner. finally.

Violet finds herself seated besides Tenn, the two of them digging into dinner. A small thud comes from the table in front of them. Violet looks up. Brody. Brody gives a slight, awkward smile, sitting down. Violet only looks down, and continues to eat. Brody sighs. 

Violet glances at Tenn. He’s finished his food, and is now drawing quietly. Instead of talking, she instead opts to watch him draw for a few minutes. Eventually, Brody gets up to go give Omar her bowl. 

“Violet! It’s time!” Louis shouts from one of the other tables, where he, Marlon, Clementine, and AJ are seated. She sighs, before making her way over to the table. 

As she sits down, AJ gets up and sits across from Tenn, watching him draw. Clem keeps a nervous eye on him.

“Clem, he’ll be fine. You don’t have to keep your eyes on him the whole time.” Marlon starts. “After all, I’m sure that you two could use a little break from each other.” Clem chuckles a bit at this.

“I know. It’s just… AJ’s never been around anyone else his own age. It’s always just been…” She hesitates. “It’s always just been me. It’s so nice to see him smiling and happy. Acting like a kid, you know?” 

“That’s… so sweet.” Louis says genuinely, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. Clementine snorts. “Anyways, let’s get on with this, shall we? Basically, we all draw a card. The highest card gets to ask our dear friend Clem here a question.” Clem raises an eyebrow.

“And if I get the highest card?” 

“Then you get to ask one of us a question!” Clementine nods in response.

They all reach forward, drawing a card from the deck. As they do, for the first time, Violet sees that Clem is missing a finger. She doesn't mention it, and they all flip over the cards they grabbed. A short pause as they all look at the cards, before all eyes land on Violet. She has to stop, to think of a question to ask.

“Uh… about… AJ’s parents. What happened to them?” She asks. Internally, she kicks herself. Way to go Violet, already killing the good mood with questions that probably didn’t have fun answers. Clem’s quiet for a moment.

“They died, a while back. They were, for the most part, nice people.” She smiles softly, eyes to the table.

“Makes sense.” Louis says, “AJ’s a good kid.” Clem gives him an appreciative smile. Violet can’t help but sigh in relief. Luckily, it seems like that question wasn’t too terrible for the mood.

Something tells her, however, that the mood won’t be very good, for very long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There! Sorry if it seems to cut off at a weird part hterthhgbefeb


	6. Chapter 6

There is little tension in the air following Clem’s answer to Violet’s question. She couldn’t be more grateful. Clem reaches for another card. All of them flip their cards over, with a moment's pause as they look the cards over. Clem smirks.

“So…” She thinks for a moment. “What is the worst injury you’ve ever seen?”

"One time I saw a walker get hit in the head so hard, that its eyeballs flew out of its head." Violet says, before Louis pipes up.

"I saw a guy get his guts ripped out of him. We've got a lot in there, it went on for a while!" Clem grins, before she hesitates.

"One time I saw someone's face get smashed in with a crowbar." She looks to the table. "There wasn't even any skin left." Violet raises an eyebrow.

"Ouch." Louis says with a slight wince.

"He deserved it." Clem does her best to shrug with indifference. The memory wasn't a fond one, that was for sure. Carver was an awful, disgusting man. She would never be like him, she knew it.

They reach for the cards again. Louis.

"So.... Clementine." He starts. Clem arches an eyebrow. A silent 'get on with it'. "Ever... have a boyfriend?" Violet slams the table.

"Oh, come on!" She nearly shouts. Louis puts his hands up defensively.

"Hey, a guy can't help but wonder!" He grins. "I've never had a girlfriend myself, in-"

"Yeah, I'm sure she's real surprised by that." Violet cuts him off, and he pouts. Marlon snorts, shaking his head with a grin. Clem hums in thought.

"Nope. There was a boy once, but we were just friends. Actually, he taught me how to play the only card game I know." She smiles at the memory. Sure, he met an sad, untimely end, but what time they spent together-as friends- was a good one.

"Just friends. Sure." Violet says in what Clem can't help but imagine as a teasing tone.

"Yep. Just. Friends." Clem smiles. She sees Marlon roll his eyes. Louis almost looks... disappointed.

Once more, they reach for the cards, drawing one each, and flipping them over. This time, Clem is the victor once more.

"Have any of you ever met anyone famous out here?" Clem doesn't even have to stop to think about her question this time.

"Nope." Violet says, and the boys shake their heads.

"Actually, we haven't met much of... anyone, out here, really." Louis says, tapping a finger to his chin. "You'd think people and celebrities would be more common now that we're all practically equal. All just either dead, or alive, y'know?" Violet shrugs.

"I mean, they're all rich. I'm sure as soon as shit hit the fan they holed themselves up. Bet they're living it up in some... I don't know, underground bunkers or some shit?" She says.

"Yeah, maybe."

It took Clem a moment to think, but suddenly she remembers one person- Javier. He had mentioned being a professional baseball player several times.

"I met someone who played baseball once, like, for money." Clem says. Violet groans.

"Baseball sucks." Louis lifts a hand to his chest, mouth agape.

"Excuse you, baseball is great. I love it." He turns to Clem. "Was he any good?" Now that she thinks back on it, he never did get to teach her how to play like he promised. She would probably have to find him again someday. Go back to the New Frontier and demand that he keep his promise.

"Not sure. We never got to play. I wasn't with him for very long." She says with a shrug. Louis nods with a hum.

This time, Marlon wins. He chuckles a bit, before growing serious.

"You... can't have been alone all this time. Who..., y'know, took care of you?" Clem frowns, looking down at her card on the table.

"The first person who ever took care of me was Lee." She can practically feel the three's curiosity grow without looking up.

"What did he teach you?" Marlon pushes. She couldn't blame him, or Louis and Violet, for that matter. She'd wonder too. She always wondered what life was like for those she was with, before she arrived.

"How to let go." She answers after a quiet pause. Marlon nods, and they all draw again.

This time, Violet wins. She smirks.

"This is a fun one to ask. Who do you think, out of everyone here, would die first." Clem shoots her a look, and Violet's smirk only grows.

"No offense, but... Maybe Marlon?" the boy in question barks out a laugh.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Clem shrugs.

"Nearly everyone I've ever met, who tried to keep a group together, died in the end." She says. He nods, taking a moment to think.

"Nearly." She gives a small smile. She doesn't really think that he would die. She didn't like to think that anyone would die anytime soon.

Clem knows that all of them will die eventually, and some of those deaths will be out of anyone's control. Most of them may be unexpected, sudden, and gruesome. But, it was nice to imagine that the school could be a safe place. A place where walkers wouldn't fuck everything over. The walls were made of stone! Walkers wouldn't be getting through it unless they started growing wings.

They all draw again, and once more, Clem gets to ask a question.

"What is... the grossest thing you've ever eaten?" Violet doesn't wait even a second to answer.

"Hands down, horse eyeballs."

"Slugs." Marlon says next. All eyes turn to Louis.

"Cantaloupe." Marlon laughs loudly, and Violet shakes her head.

"Seriously, cantaloupe?"

"Yes, cantaloupe! Even saying the word puts a nasty taste in my mouth." Clem grins.

"I almost ate a guys legs once." Everyone's heads snap to her, eyes wide. "Almost! Someone stopped me. I didn't know at the time." All three of them seem to free their held breaths simultaneously. God, that could've been real awkward.

One last time, they all draw their cards. Louis.

"Have you.... Wait, no. Never mind." He cuts himself off.

"Just spit it out already." Violet says sharply. He pouts.

"Alright, but it's not a fun one." He turns his full body towards Clem. "Have you... Have you ever had to kill someone you loved?" Clem nearly winces.

There was one person she loved, that she directly killed. Sure, unintentionally she had killed others, just by.... being there. Lee. That was entirely her fault. She had left with that... that mad-man in a fit of childish anger. Lee was bit because of her. He lost his arm, and then she had to shoot him, to save him from the lifeless life-after-death.

"Yes. The man I mentioned before. Lee." She starts. "I had to shoot him the same day I found out my parents were dead." Everyone looks down.

"That... sounds like a rough day." Louis says, unsure of what else that he could say.

"Yeah. Worst day of my life." She chuckles humorlessly.

Few days could ever come close to matching that, and even then, they were so far from being as bad. The day she got Omid killed by leaving her stupid gun on the sink. The day she and Christa got separated. Christa… Clem couldn’t help but wonder from time to time, where she ended up. Hopefully somewhere safe. The day Luke drowned trying to save her. When she had to shoot Jane, thinking she had gotten AJ killed.

When Kenny died in that stupid car crash. She grits her teeth. That one was probably the closest to the worst, probably tied with the day AJ was taken for second. She had known him from the beginning. Known him the longest. And it was her fault that he died. His death was also the reason that she was insistent on wearing seat belts. Actually, that was probably what saved her and AJ in that car crash. So many deaths she caused. So much that could’ve been avoided… Without her.

Clem sighs, looking back up from the table, and her thoughts.

"I think that's enough of this for me for today. She offers a small smile, before getting up to go get AJ, giving the three no chance to protest.

She and the boy walk quietly to the room that Clem had woken up in that afternoon. As soon as they arrive, AJ takes the chair, and stares in wonder at the toolbox of drawing supplies.

"Clem, look at all these colors!" He cries out gleefully. She smiles at him, nodding to his silent question. He immediately starts to draw on the back of a paper that Tenn had given him to draw on. Clem stands beside him, watching him color.

The card game had been fun, sure, but so many of the questions had been unnecessarily... dark. Clem doesn't mind, but still. It was a bit emotionally tiring to answer questions about her past. Couldn't they have asked something a little more bright? She shakes her head at herself, and continues to watch AJ draw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, like an absolute buffoon, i forgot abt those little determinant scars that clem can get, depending on who she goes with in season 2 and all that. last chapter was edited, so that violet notices the injuries  
> also, because i could, i decided to change the scars up a little bit. bc it wont be a major thing at all, ill just tell yall that in season 2, she decided to go with kenny. bc of this, in the car crash, she gets the scar above her eye, however, in this, she also loses a finger when she and aj are alone. same scene and cause and all that!  
> theres no reason for this other than i wanted to akfjhsdkasdjfh
> 
> do i post an absurd amount? maybe so. not like ive got anything better to do tho   
> thats a lie. i have exams starting next week that i should be studying for rip


	7. Chapter 7

Violet walks through one of the halls of the dorm buildings. Past the cellar door, to the wall of furniture, piled up. Not really meant as protection from the walkers locked behind doors, but more as a warning to the students that grew curious in the early days. Violet sighs, her hand resting on the doorknob of the twins' old room. It shouldn't be this hard to step inside. It's been a whole year. A whole fucking year, and she can't open a goddamn door. She scowls to herself.

She twists the knob, pushing the door open. She certainly was not expecting to find that Clementine and AJ had made it into their own, for the time being.

"Oh, uh, shit. Sorry, I didn't realize Marlon put you guys in here." Violet walks inside, gently closing the door behind her. "I just... needed to grab something. From the closet." Violet takes the few steps towards the closet, and looks inside. She turns around. Dammit. AJ has it.

"Oh."

"What?" Clementine asks, an eyebrow arched curiously.

"That box. It was Sophie's." Clem tilts her head. "One of Tenn's sisters. He wanted some more art supplies and stuff, and I was..." She trails off, arms crossed over her chest as she looks to the ground. Clem's expression seems to fall sympathetically at the mention of the twin.

"Oh! I'm sorry. We didn't know." Violet looks up, surprised.

"No, no. It's fine, don't worry about it. It's really just been sitting in here untouched for like, a year. No one was using it." She waves a hand, down dismissively, and turns for the door. "If AJ wants to use it, it's cool." She hesitates a moment, hand on the knob.

"You should probably give the box back. It doesn't belong to us." Clementine says to AJ. The tone of her voice reminds Violet of mothers in some of the movies she used to watch. Violet turns around to see AJ nod, looking a bit down. 

"Thanks bud. It's just that Tenn wanted it, since it was his sister's, and all." Violet steps towards the two again.

"It's okay..." AJ says.

Violet thinks for a moment, looking at the unfinished drawing on the table in front of AJ. She glances to Clementine, before pointing at it.

"If you want, you can finish your drawing. I don't mind waiting." AJ perks up a bit at this, smiling, before grabbing the pencil he was using, leaning over the drawing to continue it.

After waiting a moment, a slight upturn to the corner of her mouth, she walks over to one of the bunkbeds, resting a hand on the ladder.

"I always liked this room. The walls were always covered in Sophie's paintings." She turns around. "And Minerva? She was real musical. Not like Louis, though. She had real talent." Clem chuckles at this, crossing her arms. Violet looks up at her, before looking back to the ground, leaning up against the bed frame.

"She had the most amazing voice. Real bluesy. She and Marlon'd joke that he'd find a guitar, and they'd travel the country playing" She smiles at the memory.

Minerva and Marlon were always close friends. Always teasing each other, sure, but he was almost as close to her as her actual siblings.

"That was a long time ago, though." She says with a frown and another sigh. "After... Afterwards, Tenn and Brody came in here. Took all the paintings and shit off the walls. I think they hid it all in a closet or something, I don't even know.

She crosses her arms again, brow furrowing as she frowns.

"Fuck, I.... I don't even know why I brought it up."

There's a moment of silence, before Clem walks over to the other bunk, and sits down.

"Well, it sounds like they were good friends." Clementine says. Violet shrugs.

"Yeah. Sophie was a good friend. And Minnie?" She rests her head on the ladder, looking towards the window. "We were close." Clementine hesitates.

"What exactly happened to them, Minerva and Sophie?"

Somehow, against all odds, Violet manages to look further to the ground than before. Absolutely spectacular display, Violet, 10/10. Excellent conversational behavior.

"They were out scavenging with Marlon and Brody. Went out past the safe zone, and they didn't make it back." She looks up towards Clem. "It happens. We just didn't think it would happen to them." She decides to sit on the bunk bed as well. 

"Honestly, I mostly miss having someone to talk to. There's just... So many dudes. It gets a little too bro-town sometimes." Violet smiles just a bit. "And, I'm not exactly, like, a people person, y'know?" She gestures with her hands a bit as she talks. "I know I can come off a bit too harsh sometimes."

"Actually, I think you come off alright. I thought you were pretty cool." Clem says. Violet looks up, eyes wide in surprise. Clem smiles a bit.

"Oh, um, thanks, I guess..." She trails off, looking around. "You were pretty cool too. Against those walkers, and all."

The two of them fall into a comfortable break in their little chat. Violet finds her eyes wandering around the room. The walls still had the tiny holes scattered about from where the tacks used to hold up the paintings. The bookcase to her left has a collapsed shelf, and what few books remained had become free lunch for any bugs or whatever decided to pass through.

"Clem, look. I'm an artist now." AJ breaks the silence, beckoning the girl to come see the drawing. Both Clem and Violet rise to their feet, going over to AJ.

Violet peers over his shoulder at his drawing. ‘for: clem frum: aj me protekting clem’ the paper reads. Just above it, is AJ's adorable rendition of a fairly worrying scene. AJ holds a gun on a hill in front of Clementine, the gun pointed at three dead figures on the ground.

"Not bad, kiddo." Clem says. The girls looks to Violet, who only looks away.

"Thanks for the box. You're pretty cool, AJ." She says as the shuts the lid, and grabs the handle.

AJ nods, smiling a bit as he grabs one of the two pencils left on the table. Violet walks towards the door, pausing a moment before opening it.

"See ya." She says as she shuts it behind her.  
She waits a second before walking down the hall. She clutches the box to her chest, looking at the top of it. She chuckles a bit. The few stickers placed randomly on the box were so... Sophie.  
Violet finally walks away, down the hall. As she does, she can't help but look at all the graffiti written along the walls. It was everywhere, and shit, most of the time it just faded into the background. 

Once word got out about the outbreak, and the teachers abandoned them, several of the more problematic students went absolutely apeshit without any authority. Things were thrown and broken, holes were punched into walls. Some students busted into Ericson's office and trashed the place. 

Most of those students were either long gone or dead. Everyone else though? They were either there, or died once shit started calming down, and Marlon took charge.

Violet pushes open the doors to the main yard. Now that the Sun has long since set, almost everyone has gone to their rooms. Mitch is on watch. Next it would be Ruby, and then Willy. 

Violet walks to the other portion of the dorm building, huffing in annoyance. The only reason she had even needed to walk as much to grab this was because of the chunk of the dorms that were blocked off by walls of furniture. Violet would probably complain to Marlon. Maybe try and get him to let her knock it all down and kill whatever… three or so walkers might possibly be blocked off. 

Actually, now that she thinks about it, an alarming amount of the school was blocked off. The entire library, and back half of the school was off limits. It made sense, for sure, but damn, they’d have so much more space if they could just get Marlon to let them fix the wall. 

Violet walks through the same, yet still different hallway towards Tenn and Willy’s shared room. She knocks on the door, before pushing it open. Both of the boys are passed out in their beds, limbs sprawled out as they sleep. Willy snores loudly, and drool runs down the side of his mouth. Violet snorts, walking across the room to set down the box on the dresser between the two beds.

She closes the door softly behind her, and makes her way towards her own room. A lot had happened in just two days, and Violet was looking forward to a good night’s sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *peace signs* yeah if it seems like im rushing this at all considering im pumpin out a chapter a day- ngl i kind of am. Im just so excited for when we finally get to the good stuff.
> 
> Things are definitely gonna pick up once we get to the basement scene, bc thats when shits gonna change


	8. Chapter 8

The morning is peaceful. For the first time in years, Clementine slept safely within walls, on an actual bed, and as she and AJ make their way to the old headmaster’s office, she can’t help but appreciate the morning as it is. No worrying about walkers. She had nearly walked out of the room with her knife drawn, when she remembered where they were.

AJ stops halfway up the massive set of stairs.

“Marlon will let us stay, right? He won’t kick us out?” He asks, face scrunched up with worry. Clem gives him a reassuring smile.

“Marlon is a good person, AJ. I’m sure he’ll let us stay.” She says. Marlon was kind. He could, from what Clem had seen, be an ass, but he was, at heart, a genuinely caring person. If he kicked them out, it wouldn’t be out of hatred. It would be to protect his friends. _His family._

The two of them continue up the set of stairs, AJ leading the charge. He excitedly beckons Clem to follow, pleased that he knows where the office is, yet she doesn’t. Glad that he gets to teach _her_ something instead of the other way around.

AJ rushes off, and into one of the rooms as Clem reaches the top of the stairs.

“AJ, wait up!” She huffs. She pushes open the door, to see AJ already sitting on the floor across from a playing Tenn, Marlon nowhere to be seen. 

“Look, Tenn’s here.” AJ beams up at her. Tenn pauses from where he rolls a toy fire truck along the carpet to look up at Clementine.

“Hey Clem.” He says, before continuing. AJ looks at the toy in wonder. Come to think of it, Clem is sure that AJ had never seen a fire truck before. “Thanks for the pencils. I missed having colors.”

Clem nods to Tenn as she walks over, crouching down besides AJ. He picks up one of Tenn’s toys, looking at it with a confused expression. 

“Who are these guys?” AJ asks, an eyebrow raised. Tenn picks up another one from the ground and holds it up.

“Those are firefighters.” AJ picks up another one. “And that one is a policeman. They’re gonna save the day.” He says, continuing to roll the fire truck around on the ground. AJ frowns.

“But, what are they?” 

“They were… people who protected us.”

“ _Where_ are they?” He looks up at Clem. “I’ve never seen one before.”

“The same thing that happened to everyone.” She looks at him with sadness in her eyes. His usually bright eyes are clouded in sadness.

AJ had never known a life without walkers. One where most peoples’ biggest worries were being late to work, or getting good grades. A life where people didn’t wake up thinking _am I going to be the next person eaten alive today?_ A life Clem barely remembered much of herself. A life with parents who’s faces were fresh in her mind, now clouded over in vague colors, few details visible. 

Now that Clem thought about it, actually, AJ had never truly met his actual parents. Alvin had been killed before he was born, and Rebecca had died so soon after his birth. She had nearly eaten him after she had turned, AJ still in her arms as if she was still alive.

“Well,” She continues after the pause, “maybe you’ll get to meet one someday.” AJ perks up a bit at this, looking down at the toy policeman in his hand.

“That would be cool.”

Tenn reaches for the policeman in his hands.

“Here, let me see him.” AJ frowns, pulling his arms behind him defensively, shaking his head.

“No, he’s mine now.” 

Clem watches for a moment, the two bickering, before she gently takes the toy from AJ’s hand, and holds it up away from both of them.

“AJ.” She starts. “The toy is Tenn’s. You can’t just take it from him like that.” She hands the toy over to Tenn, who smiles appreciatively. 

AJ looks away. 

“Okay…” Ashamed or angry, Clem can’t tell, but he mutters under his breath.

Tenn looks at the two of them, before getting up, and grabbing the firetruck.

“Thanks. I’ll…See you both later.” He leaves quickly, likely to his own room, and the two are left alone again. 

The two are silent for a time, still on the ground. AJ watches the floor, trying not to seem upset. Clem opens her mouth to speak, when he starts himself.

“I’m sorry, Clem.” He says, brow furrowed, refusing to meet her eyes. The corner of her mouth raises.

“You should tell him that next time you see him.” He finally looks up at her, head tilted in confusion.

She rests her hand on his shoulder gently. Her knees touch the floor, a gentle release from the uncomfortable squat.

“Even if you do something wrong, being sorry shows that you’re still human, AJ.” 

“Huh?” He says. “But I _am_ a human. I’m not a monster!” She laughs. She prods his shoulder playfully.

“Oh Goofball, I don’t mean literally.” 

He examines her face for a moment, before shrugging at his own internal thoughts.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you had better tell me later! You aren’t making any sense, Clem!” He says, his voice high pitched.

AJ giggles as Clem tickles his sides. She stops, and he gets to his feet, brushing off his pants. He walks over to a dressers besides the door, Clem following behind.

He picks up a picture frame, showing it to Clem.

“This looks like Louis and Marlon. They’re so little!” Clem nods.

The boys in the picture have their arms over each others shoulders. The two smile brightly at the camera, with two Ericson jerseys on. They look happy.

“They sure are.” She chuckles. 

Suddenly the door creaks, opening slightly. Clem raises an eyebrow.

“Marlon?” She asks. She uses a hand to gently push AJ behind her protectively. The door swings open, revealing the stout dog from before. Rosie, if she remembers correctly. 

Rosie noticed them, and instantly her hackles raise, her teeth bare, and she releases a guttural growl. In a moment of fear, Clem pushes AJ back roughly, the boy stumbling behind her. She steps back, and the dog steps forward, nearly the same as when they were outside the walls. Rosie barks loudly, and Clem’s heart races.

It was all too similar to what happened with Sam. The dog had growled and barked, before suddenly attacking. She could almost feel the scar on her arm pang at the memory.

Just then, the door swings open once more, and Marlon bursts in, eyes wide. He looks at the scene before him, Rosie backing Clem and AJ towards the desk. He rushes forward, places a hand on Rosie’s head.

“Rosie! Woah, it’s okay, they’re good, they’re okay.” Almost instantly the dog relaxes, falling silent. Marlon looks up at the still defensive Clem, a worried expression on his face. “I’m sorry about that. She’s a good dog, I promise. She must have thought you were stealing, or something.” He hesitates a moment. “You said you had a bad experience with a dog, right?” 

Clem almost just nods, and AJ grabs her arm gently, just where the scar is. She rolls her sleeve up, showing Marlon the jagged scar. He winces.

“Jesus, that must’ve hurt. Who stitched that up, a monkey?” Clem barks out a laugh, shaking her head.

“No, I had to do it myself with some fishing line.” Marlon’s eyes open wide. “The people I was with thought it was a walker bite.” She continues quickly. 

She pulls the sleeve back down, and AJ clutches it gently, looking at Rosie warily. Marlon could clearly see their discomfort, and he holds his hand out towards Clem.

“I’m sure Rosie could easily help you with that fear of yours. Do you trust me?” He asks. Clem looks into his eyes, before back down to his hand. She sets her hand onto his, and he guides it down near Rosie’s head.

“Just let her smell you, so she can get used to your scent.” 

The dog’s nose is cold, gently brushing against her fingers. Her short breaths are soft against her skin as she sniffs her hand. Rosie’s tongue lolls out of her mouth, stumpy tail wagging gently as she looks to Marlon.

“Now, you can pet her. She’ll know you’re friendly.” 

Marlon’s hand releases her own, and she gently places it onto Rosie’s head. She rubs the dog’s admittedly smelly fur, and scratches behind her ears. 

It was still anxiety inducing, being so close to an animal that just the day before, Clem had watched crush through a skull like an egg. But Rosie was… gentle. She big mutt wasn’t rough and loud. She was so different from Sam. She’s been with people the entire time. With people who feed her. That pet her. That play with her. She smiles a bit, and Marlon chuckles.

“Now, tell her to go lay down. She’ll listen.” Clem looks up towards the bed in the corner.

“Rosie, go lay down.” She says, and the dog makes a whining sound, before walking over and jumping onto the bed. It creaks beneath her weight.

Marlon rests his hands on his hips, smiling almost… proudly.

“She used to be the headmaster’s dog, back before shit went down. When it happened, he bailed. Left everyone, and everything behind. Even her.” He says as he looks at the painting of Ericson and Rosie. “All the other adults did, really. Then, it was just us kids.”

He turns to face Clem and AJ, a smile now on his face.

“And now, you two are apart of that.” AJ’s eyes go wide.

“You mean you’re letting us stay?” 

“Well, yeah. It’s not like we could kick you out. Plus, both of you are plenty capable. We need that.” Marlon responds with a chuckle. “Oh, here.” 

The blonde walks around the large desk, gesturing towards a map on the top.

“This is our current food situation.” He spins the map around, so the bottom is facing Clem. “We are starting to run short. Right now, Louis and Aasim are planning on checking traps, while Brody and Violet are getting ready to go fishing. It would be really helpful if you two could go help one of those groups out.” 

Clem looks over the map for a moment. She should probably help with fishing. With the traps, there’ll either be food, or there won’t. With fishing, they could certainly use more help. That was the logical thinking, of course. More personally, however, Clem wants to get to know the two girls, Violet in particular. An idea strikes through Clem’s mind like a match.

“Why don’t I go help with the fishing, and AJ can help with the traps.” She pauses for a moment, thinking. “He already knows how to catch fish, but dealing with traps could help him out later on.” She rests a hand on his head, and he sticks his tongue out at her.

Marlon nods.

“That sounds like a good idea. I’m sure some time apart would be nice.” 

“So I’m going with Louis and Aasim?” He asks curiously. At the two nods he receives, he grins. “Nice!” He rushes out of the room, probably to go find the boys and tell them. 

Clem snorts at the boy’s behavior, before turning to leave. She stops at the door, hand wrapped around the side of it before she turns to face the older boy.

“Thanks. For letting us stay that is. You’re a good person Marlon. Don’t forget that.” She says. His eyes widen, and he looks to the table. An arm goes up to rub the back of his neck before he looks back to her and smiles a bit.

“Thanks, Clementine. That means a lot. You seem pretty good yourself.” She chuckles at his response, before walking out the door to go find the other two girl.

_Marlon will remember that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (:<


	9. Chapter 9

The air is cool against Violet’s skin. There’s no wind in the woods aside from a gentle breeze as the group of three make their way to the shack.

“Y’know, I’ve been thinking,” Brody’s voice breaks through the air. “I wish we could all go on a road trip together.” 

“A road trip? Where would we even go, it’s not like there’s anything left to go see.” Violet snarks, biting back a scowl. She hated how she couldn’t just talk to Brody without being such a dick. She blames herself, of course, it’s not like anyone else is forcing her to act like this. 

They used to be best friends, closer than close. They would talk about everything, anything, and they did for hours. They would share food, drinks. Hell, they even shared the same dorm room. When the apocalypse struck, they still stuck together like glue. Of course, it was more like shitty Elmer’s glue, which you can eventually rip apart with relative ease. When the twins died, Violet blamed Brody. Brody moved out of their dorm, wanting to give her space.

Unfortunately, space was the last thing Violet needed, then. That little gap widened under stress. Violet stopped blaming Brody, and started blaming herself. The anger that had once been harbored against her best friend died to cold ash, yet she was still so used to the burn that she could still feel it. She continued being a bitch to Brody, all because it was familiar to her at that point. All because she couldn’t get her head out of her ass and into the discomfort zone.

“Oh, come on! I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff to see. Especially now, since there won’t be many people to get in the way.” Brody responds in a cheery tone. As if she hadn’t noticed Violet’s. But the blonde knows that Brody noticed. She was kind, not stupid. The blue-eyed girl had long wanted to make up, be friends again. Move back into the room. But of course, Violet was too stubborn, and Brody was worried that she’d make it worse.

“Hell, maybe Clem could show us around! You can get a car working, _plus_ you know how to drive!” She laughs, looking back at the girl to Violet’s left.

“Barely.” Violet says, looking at Clem with a smirk.

“Oh, come on Vi.” Brody scolds. “I’ve never driven before, but I’d love to learn.”

“That actually sounds kind of nice… I love the open road.” Clem says, looking out into the trees. “I wouldn’t mind showing you around.”

“Yeah, as long as you aren’t the one driving.” Violet says. Clem snorts, shaking her head. The group grows quiet.

They cross over a small bridge, the running water just beneath. Their feet thud against the wood differently from the thump of dirt and crunch of leaves. They reach the other side to the fishing shack and the vine covered teal truck. Brody places her hand on the side of the truck with a small smile.

“I wish this old rust bucket still worked. If it did, we could just jump right on in and drive off.” Violet crosses her arms as Brody starts. “We could all take turns riding in the back. Like one of those cars, where the top goes down.”

“Well, we’d run out of gas eventually.” Brody takes her hand off the truck, and takes a small step back. She turns around to the blonde, a small frown evident on her face.

“But still, isn’t it fun to imagine?”

Violet uncrosses her arms, and shakes her head. She turns around, and walks towards the water, the conversation behind her quiet, yet still audible.

“How about you, Clem, where would you go, if gas wasn’t an issue?”

“Or a busted carburetor. Or transmission. Or flat tired.” Violet buts in. 

“Buzzkill.” There’s a moment’s pause on Clementine’s part.

“I think I’d go down to the coastline. Maybe park on the beach, and go swimming.”

“That’d be an absolute dream.” Brody sighs with content. “You could spend every day in the Sun…”

“And then die of skin cancer. Fun!” Violet grumbles loudly.

Brody snorts. Probably with annoyance, but Violet can’t tell. She’d say she wouldn’t _care_ to tell, but that’d be a lie. Violet turns around, leaning against one of the poles of the bridge.

“I’d honestly take skin cancer over turning into a walker any day.” Violet can practically hear the smile in her voice. “I’ve lived here my entire life. Heck, I could say I know every inch of these woods. I’d love to unknow it, really.”

“Well, there’s no use dreaming of what could be. We’ve got shit to do.” Brody looks down sadly, and sighs. Violet leans off of the pole, and turns to the water again.

“Yeah, I guess we should get to work on those fish. There’s spears in the shack.” Brody says as she makes her way towards the building, Clem behind her.

“You go ahead. I’ll stay out here.” Violet says, watching the water.

The door shuts behind her, the bottom scraping against the floor. Knowing her group, those two could be in there for ages. Violet decides to make the most of the time, by doing absolutely nothing productive. She sits down next to the bridge, and tosses stones into the water, thinking about nothing in particular.

That is, until she thinks of something. Clementine. She was just so, so _different_ from the other kids at Ericson’s. Perhaps it was the years out in the wild, surviving against people, walkers, and nature. Being betrayed. Watching people she loved die. 

No one back at the school could _really_ begin to understand it. Sure, none of them saw their parents after shit happened. They never learned if they were coming for them and died, or simply couldn’t reach them. If they had simply left them to die. Hell, that last one wouldn’t be a surprise, seeing as they all got shipped off to the school in the first place. 

Violet didn’t really feel bad about her parents not coming for her. Not even a call saying they would see her soon, or that they loved her very much. No mushy bullshit. Her mom probably got eaten at one of her jobs. Her dad probably starved, or was too fucking drunk to realize what was going on around him. She didn’t feel sad that she was abandoned. She just felt bitter.

Finally, Violet grows sick of her thoughts. She gets to her feet, and turns towards the shack.

“Hey, what the hell’s taking you two so long?” She shouts. A moment of silence, before the door opens, and Brody walks out with several spears.

“Here.” Brody hands them to her, before walking down, along the water upstream to the traps. 

Violet sets all but one of the spears down on the ground.

“Tell me when.” Brody calls to her, and she nods. Several seconds later, and a fish zooms past. She frowns, waiting for the next. 

The door to the shack opens again, as she concentrates, watching a fish slowly swimming against the current. She readies the spear, and just as she brings it down for the kill, it swims off.

“Shit!” She mutters under her breath. Footsteps approach her from behind.

“Can I… join you?” Clem asks. Violet turns to face her, and raises an eyebrow. She turns back around and shrugs.

“Sure.” Clem steps up beside her on the rocks, spear in hand. “Check out these guys over here.”

“They’re swimming against the current.” Clem observes. Violet chuckles.

“Guess they don’t realize it makes them easier targets.”

The two of them go back and forth, taking jabs against the fish. Clem’s spear strikes one, and she drops it into the bucket with a gross, wet slap.

“Hey, uh, sorry if I was weird last night. About the whole room thing.” She struggles with her words a moment, before continuing. “Seeing someone else in there… It was harder than I expected.” She chuckles to herself. “You’d think by now I’d be less sentimental.” 

Clem looks over at her, now holding her spear in a less offensive manner.

“It’s fine. I’m glad I got to know you better.” Violet is taken aback by this, eyes wide in surprise, before she smiles.

“Uh, yeah. I guess I am too.” Clem returns the smile, before the return to fishing. 

Violet’s spear strikes the water violently. The spear impales itself into a fish, and she smirks in victory. She drops the fish into the bucket.

“Head’s up, guys. Haul’s not lookin’ too great!” Brody shouts from upstream. 

Despite herself, Violet scoffs. Clem looks at her with an eyebrow raised. Guilty. That’s how Violet feels. She feels guilty that she had decided to trade jobs with Brody. Guilty that she wasn’t there to save the twins. Guilty that she took it out on everyone else. And yet, here she is, taking it out on herself, and Brody as well. 

“Uh, yeah, okay.” She yells back. She sighs, pressing the back end of the spear against the ground. “God. Sometimes I just can’t with her. She just gets on my last nerve and I can’t… I can’t handle it.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” Clem chuckles, one hand on her hip. 

“I-I mean, it’s not like, I hate her.” She stammers, stumbling over her words. She clenches her fist, staring into the water.

“She definitely thinks that you do, though.” Clem’s face is sad as she speaks. Violet clenches her fist harder. 

The two watch the water, waiting for fish quietly. A minute, maybe two passes. Not like they had a watch. All the batteries for those died years ago. No more fish come past. Violet sighs.

“Looks like they wisened up.” Violet sets the spear down, looking down into the water for the millionth time of the trip.

“I feel… bad about her. About Brody, I mean. I treat her so shittily, and I just… I can’t help it.” Violet’s voice cracks as she opens up to Clem. “Why is it so hard to just relax around her?”

“Maybe it’s because she never said sorry?” Violet’s eyes widen. She looks over to Clem.

“Did… did she tell you that?” Clem shrugs.

“Pretty much.” Violet chuckles humorlessly. “She wants to talk to you about it, you know?” 

“I just feel so guilty about it all.” Violet starts. “It wasn’t her fault. I was supposed to be out with the twins that day. When she and Marlon came back without them… I took my anger out on them. But I just couldn’t help but continue to be angry at her.” Her nose wrinkles up in disgust at herself. “I’m not even mad at her anymore. I just…” her shoulders tense, fists clenched. She releases it with a sigh. “Every time I tried to talk to her, I couldn’t help but… be a major dick.”

Clem doesn’t respond. Honestly, Violet didn’t mind. She actually felt kind of good, getting that off of her chest. To know that Clem was willing to listen. 

Brody makes her way over to them. The three meet in the middle.

“Did you catch any fish?” Clem looks down at the bucket in Violet’s hand with a shrug.

“Enough. For now.” Brody smiles and nods.

“I didn’t catch anything. At least there’s something.” She rests a hand on her hip. “We should go find Louis, Aasim, and AJ. See if they had any luck.” 

The three start the walk back in the direction of the school. They’d find the boys somewhere along the way. Violet hesitates, before speaking.

“The Grand Canyon.” 

“What?” Brody blurts out from behind her. 

“That’s where I’d go. If we took a road trip. Kept driving ‘til we hit it.”

Brody is quiet behind her.

“Yeah. That would be cool.” Violet smiles a bit at the girl’s response.

Violet speeds up a bit, leaving the two behind slightly. She looks over her shoulder at the two.

“Hey, you slowpokes coming or what?” She calls.

“Yeah, we’re right behind you.” Brody says. Violet can see the smile on her face.

Maybe there was hope for their friendship after all.


	10. Chapter 10

It doesn't take much walking for the girls to realize that something is wrong. All the traps that they pass are empty, and the woods are quiet. Too quiet, considering Louis' loud mannerisms.

"Where are they?" Brody mumbles. 

"Practicing making out with toothless walkers or something, probably." Violet jokes.

"Gross." 

"I know, right? Poor walker..." Brody giggles at the response, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. Clementine snorts as she follows the two.

The continue walking, before Violet stops.

"What the hell?" Clementine steps around her, seeing the subject of Violet's concern. One of the traps was dangling in the air, the rope cut, no prey to be seen. "Someone sabotaged this. This isn't good." Brody's shoulders tense up, before she calls out to the boys.

"Aasim! Louis!" She calls, hand cupped over her mouth. 

"Spread out. See if we can find them." Violet says. Clementine nods, going in the opposite direction.

"Be careful..." Clem mutters under her breath. Brody pauses before she leaves, a faint smile on her face.

Clem walks around a bit, searching the ground for any sight of the boys, or their saboteur. She stops in front of one of the traps. The ground is stained with fresh blood, the trap fixed above it, just as it was set. She raises an eyebrow. Either the boys already collected whatever was here, or someone stole their prey.

She crouches down, examining the ground around the trap. Her eyes widen in surprise at the sight of a cigarette butt. She picks it up, looking at the hand rolled cigarette.

"Is this... A bible page?" Clementine almost snorts as she asks herself this aloud. She stands up, the cigarette still in her hand. Clem couldn't recall if anyone there smoked, but she feels that she would have noticed if anyone did. She decides to look around some more, only to almost walk directly into a dead walker, hanging by its feet from a trap as she rounds a tree. A stake stabs through where its mouth once was, dead.

"Guys, over here!" She shouts for Violet and Brody.

The two waste little time, rushing over quickly towards her call. Likely worried that their friends may be injured, or worse.

"Well, we sure as hell didn't kill this one." Violet says as she comes up on Clem's right. "We wouldn't've left it hanging in the trap." Footsteps from behind. Brody.

"What the hell?" She asks. Clem lifts up the bible cigarette to show the two.

"I found this too." Brody's eyebrows arch upwards, surprised, almost scared. "Do any of the kids smoke."

"Nope. Nothing _to_ smoke." Violet confirms her suspicions, shaking her head.

"Wow, who's this unlucky fella?" A familiar voice jokes from behind. Clem whirls around. AJ, Louis, and Aasim. 

Clem releases a sigh of relief. She was glad to see them safe, but she should have noticed someone walking up behind them. AJ rushes forward, arms wrapping around Clem. She looks down, smiling at the boy, before looking up with concern.

"Where were you?" She asks. Aasim steps forward, a rabbit, clutched by the ears, was in his hand.

"Checking nearby traps. All that were sprung were empty. All the others are broken." He says.

Brody approaches, eyes wide with worry.

"So someone robbed us?" her tone is fearful. 

"Great, now we're all gonna starve." Louis says as he rolls his eyes at the situation.

Clem looks down to the ground. They were practically out in the middle of nowhere. The chances of them being found were so few, and yet, here they were. Some asshole was out there messing up their traps, and stealing their food.

"Fuck. That's... fuck. Fuck!" Brody cuts through her thoughts, cursing. She turns around, facing away from the group. Her fingers curl at her sides, breathing heavy. Panicked. "It's just... fuck. It's okay, c'mon, breath, Brody, breath. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon." She mutters fearfully under her breath.

Violet and Louis come to her sides, not touching her. They speak quietly to her, doing their best to calm her down. Clem takes a few steps forward.

"Hey, there'll be enough food-" She starts, when Brody spins around, angry.

"That's not what I'm worried about!" She shouts. 

"Woah, Brody, chill." Violet says, putting her palms forward, trying to get the girl to calm down.  
Brody takes a deep breath, looking down, before brushing past Clem.

"I have to tell Marlon about this."

Louis crosses his arms, shifting his weight onto one leg.

"Uh, we still need food. Y'know, to live? And this," He waves his hand towards the rabbit, and bucket of fish, " Is not enough for everyone." Brody huffs, arms crossed over her chest as she starts walking in the direction of the school.

"Whatever, you figure this out." She says, before disappearing into the trees. Violet reaches towards her, trying to stop her, before lowering it. She could always talk to her later. Aasim awkwardly scratches the back of his neck.

"I'll follow her, and take all this back to the school." He says. Violet passes him the bucket of fish. "Maybe we can ration it out, or something."

He walks off, and Louis places his hands on his hips.

"So what are we supposed to do now? Eat rocks?" AJ raises an eyebrow at him.

"You can't eat rocks." He says. Louis sighs.

"I'm aware."

AJ turns to Clem, a hand holding onto her jacket.

"Will... Will marlon kick us out if we don't find food?" He asks her quietly, eyes wide. 

"I'm sure he won't, but let's not find out." She responds softly, placing a hand on his head.

She reaches into her pocket, pulling out the map that Marlon gave her back at the school, unfolding it carefully. She looks over the paper, before her eyes land on the train station's mark on the map.

"There. There was food in the train station." She folds it back up, placing it in her pocket.

"Maybe, but it's outside the safe zone." Violet says. "Are you sure there was food?"

Clem nods in confirmation.

"Absolutely. Some of it was destroyed in the explosion, sure, but there has to be something left. There was so much in there."

Violet looks down to the ground. Her eyes drag up to Louis, who just shrugs.

"Fuck it, let's go." She says. Clem grins, and they start the walk towards the train station, leaving the mess of ruined traps in their wake. They could always fix them later, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ones early today,,, thats bc theres gonna be another chapter up later, around the usual time (which is around 10-11 pm edt)


	11. Chapter 11

The sun had already started to set as they left the hunting grounds surrounding the school, and by the time they reached the train station, it had fully disappeared. 

It came as a surprise to none of them when they found it absolutely surrounded in walkers. The bumbling corpses hobbled about on their decaying legs. Whatever incredible force kept them upright with rotted muscle was disgustingly impressive to Violet.

Years of simply staring at walkers from the wall on watch, and she never could come to a conclusion as to just _how_ they could move with so little muscle. Flies could be seen buzzing about them, and occasionally some maggots could be seen wriggling in holes of the ragged flesh. 

Dead, yet still walking. Violet nearly chuckles at the stupid, pathetically literal name for them. Nearly. Hundreds of zombie movies, TV shows, books, from the pre-apocalyptic world, and they settled for calling them _walkers_? What the fuck? Violet would prefer the term zombies over walkers any day. But, sadly, she couldn't dare call them that aloud, near anyone else, at least. 

She'd surely get an earful from Ruby, 'you can't call them that! This ain't a movie, Vi!' or even a lecture from Aasim, 'actually, 'walker' is a better term, really. It makes sense. Also, zombie was always a stupid thing to call them-' god, Violet nearly shudders at the thought. They were the same age as her, yet she'd rather get literally eaten than chewed out by those two. 

"There. That's where the food is, inside of there." Clem says as they crouch behind a small pile of rubble. Shit, right, the food. That was more important than the etymology, or whatever, of the term 'walkers'. "There's definitely a lot more walkers than before, though." Violet arches an eyebrow.

"An explosion'll do that." She says in a near teasing tone. Clem glares at her. It's angerless. "It's either walkers or starving, and personally, I'd prefer to take my chance dancing with the walkers." She looks out into the small sea of walkers shambling about between the two massive train cars. "Clem, maybe you should scope things out. You know the place better." 

"Alright. Let me get a closer look." The girl responds with a nod.

The girl near silently climbs up the small pile of rubble, pressing herself up against the front of the train at the top. She clutches the side, peeking around at the walkers. She mutters a bit under her breath, barely audible as she scans the area.

"We barely got out of here. It was close." AJ shifts a little besides Violet as Clem says this, a frown on his face.

"Sounds scary." Violet says, scrunching her face up. The hell? No shit it was scary. Even just leaving the school to fish could be scary. Clem only nods in response. 

"There. I used that bell to attract a walker before. It could work again." She says, pointing to a rusting bell, hanging from a pole stuck in the ground a few feet away.

"Could work. They sure do like sound..." Violet trails off. Her eyes grow wide. It seems that her sudden revelation hit all four of them at the same time, with her, Clem, and AJ all turning to face Louis. 

The boy scoots back a bit, palms pushing forward in a defensive manner, shaking his head.

"Uh-uh, hell no." He says, crossing his arms over his chest. "No way are you guys gonna be using someone so glamorous as bait."

"It's a good thing you aren't glamorous, then." Violet says with a snort. 

"Come on Louis. Just grab the bell and go up onto that freight car." She points up to the big red car currently acting as a wall. "The walkers won't be able to reach you up there." She assures him. He still looks wary.

"Plus, you're loud and dramatic. You're basically a walking, talking distraction. And, it's not like we'd leave you behind." Violet adds. Know Louis, that was probably one of the big things holding him back. 

After the dead started walking- dammit, there she goes with the damn walker thing again- all the teachers and staff had abandoned him. Before that, his parents dumped him there to fend for himself in a school full of misfits and troublemakers. Louis had, several times actually, admitted to her during heartfelt nights, that he was scared of being abandoned. Terrified that he'd be left behind. Forgotten.

Violet would make sure that Louis didn't get left behind again. She may seem like an asshole to him to those that didn't know them, but it was more of a sibling-like teasing. Or, so she thinks. She doesn't exactly have any siblings. Violet likes to imagine that they're like siblings, though. God dammit, fuck, there she goes, lost in thought again. They're surrounded in walkers, for christ's sake! Pay attention, Violet. 

Louis finally relents, to all of their relief. He sighs, throwing his head back as if he were going to groan.

"Fine! But if I get eaten, I know exactly who I'm going to eat first." He glares pointedly at both her and Clem, looking back and forth between the two of them.

He and Clem creep around the rubble towards the bell, with Violet and AJ following close behind. Violet pulls her knife out of her belt, clutching as if her life depended on it. Which it did. 

"Okay, I'll climb up there and be loud until I see you guys are safe. Then, I'll try to direct smelly-patrol over here away so that you can get in fine." He grabs the bell off of the loop, holding the little... dangly bit inside so it didn't make any sound. He climbs up the freight car quietly, before jumping at the top.

Clem leads the way, with AJ right behind, and Violet following in the back. They slowly make their way along the side of the opposite train car, more focused on not being killed by the walkers left uninterested in Louis. Clem's knife sinks into one of the stragglers without a jaw. 

"Hey, ugly! No, not you, the other one. Not you ei..." Violet tunes Louis' shouting out. The bell clangs loudly. Honestly, while the distraction was working currently, it would probably prove troublesome when they're done. That damn bell was probably attracting all the walkers in the forest.

Clem's knife sinks into another walker, this one sitting on the ground. Violet swings her own knife downward into another walker's skull, prying it out with the disgusting sounds that usually come from trying to yank a knife out of a skull. AJ rushes past her towards Clem, who hides behind a pile of barrels. 

The three group up there, before looking up at Louis, who continues to make a racket up above them.

"So far not dead." Violet huffs out.

"So far." Clem responds with a worried frown. "I'll let Louis know we're ready." She stands up, waving up at the boy. 

All goes quiet. Clem quickly crouches back down, the three of them pressing their backs up against the barrel. Both of the girls seem to gently place hands on AJ, like a lone pizza delivery guy trying to stop the pizza from flying into the dashboard as he slams on the brakes because a squirrel ran across the road.

"What is he doing?" Violet hisses under her breath.

"Just give him a second..." Clem says softly. Violet frowns.

 

"We may not have a second!" The sounds of walkers seem to grow quieter, more ominous, while louder all the same as they grow closer. Almost in unison, the three sharply intake breaths, the messy footsteps loud behind the very barrels they hide. 

Finally, the bell rings again. They release the held breaths as the walkers grow quiet beneath the sounds of clanging, following the noise once more. They all stand, peering over the barrels at the backs of the walkers as they limp and scrape their feet towards Louis.

Violet and Clem face each other, Violet's face plagued with worry.

"I'll watch the door for walkers for you." 

"Alright. AJ and I'll sneak in, grab the food, and get out." Violet nods.

"Sounds good. Make it quick." Clem and AJ quietly sneak around the barrels and towards the stairs on the front. A walker, previously seeming dead, grabs Clem's ankle. Her knife near instantly swings down into its head, and she continues on her way.

Violet's eyes widen. She would _not_ want to be on her bad side. Well, not that she'd want to be on her bad side any way. However, that wasn't the point right now. Clem and AJ step up the creaky steps. The other girl turns to look at Violet, who nods, one last time before the two disappear into the building. 

And now, the waiting. Violet watches the area as intently as she used to watch the television. She was _not_ going to let a single stray walker into that building. Not just because of the food, of course. It would fucking _suck_ if either Clem or AJ were killed by a walker because Violet wasn't paying attention. God, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if someone else's death was her fault again. 

A few minutes pass. The clanging of the bell is still loud, but Louis' shouts grow weary and impatient. He was most definitely going to be hoarse the next morning. Violet starts to grow worried. She had every reason to be, after all. Not a sound suggesting that they were okay in that. Well, there wasn't any suggesting they weren't either, but that was besides the point. 

The walkers outside seemed to be growing disinterested in the ceaseless clanging of the bell. Violet frowns, hesitating, before deciding to listen to her better judgement, for once in her life. She rushes up the stairs, and opens the door of the station cautiously. She passes two walkers, seated and tied to two chairs. Both of which are still alive, which is puzzling, but god DAMMIT Violet that is not the focus right now! Keep moving, ask questions later. She rushes into the doorway of the only room, which isn't exactly a room.

"Clem, we're running out of time. We need to get out of he-" She cuts herself off. A man is crouched down, shoving food into a bag. Before she can react any further, the man lifts a gun up, pointing it right at her. 

Violet freezes. What the _fuck_ was happening? 

"Don't panic." He says, slinging the bag over his shoulder, and slowly walking towards her. "I was just on my way out." She moves out of the way as he exits, gun still pointed right at her. As he passes her, she can see his eyes are multicolored. He reeks of cigarettes. He turns around just as her exits the room that wasn't. "Thanks for dinner." and then, the man was gone.  
Violet pauses, watching him dart off as he gets outside. Finally, she turns around to AJ and Clem. 

"Who in the fuck was that?" She asks, confused, yet also kind of terrified. Christ, that guy could've ended her right then and there, and nothing could stop him other than him himself.

"Just take a bag and fill it up!" Clem says. Violet pauses, before rushing over. Work now, ask later. Ask later. That was always how it was, sadly. 

The three shove as much food as they possibly could into the two remaining duffle bags. The ground in the hole in the floor, and the ceiling just above it is riddled with what must be hundreds of tiny holes. A grenade. That must've been the explosion they heard before the car crash. Once again, something she'd have to remember to ask about later.

The three rush out, one bag over Clem's shoulder, and one over Violet's. Clem quite literally kicks the door open, the three of them running out. A single pause before they start getting out.

"RUN!" Clem shouts to Louis. He stops hitting the bell on the car, a baffled expression on his face, before he runs to the other side.

The three run towards where they came in. Blocked. Even more walkers swarm the entrance than there were on the inside before. They make a quick turn around, and rush around the train car. Violet's knife imbeds itself into one walker's skull. Louis rushes past her. From the corner of her eye, she can see Clem kill a walker, while Louis starts swinging his stupid 'Chairles' into directly into anothers' face.

Then, they start running. AJ leads the way, before Violet rushes forward to lead the way.

"What happened in there?" She shouts between breaths.

"Just move! I'll tell you on the way!"

 

"-and then you ran in, and he left." Clementine finishes as the school comes into their sight. They had stopped running a bit earlier, certain they were at that point as safe as they could be. Violet takes a deep breath.

"Jesus christ." She says with a sigh. "That's fucked up. You reacted well though. All of us pretty much got pretty safely." Louis scoffs from besides her as Clem shoots her a small smile.

"Speak for yourselves! You weren't the ones playing human worm." He says, placing a hand on his chest in an offended manner, his other preoccupied with holding the second duffle bag. Violet had passed it to him somewhere along the way. Damn her noodle arms. One would think that after several years of heavy physical work she'd be capable of carrying a bag of food. Shit though, the cans were pretty damn heavy.

"Please! You were literally the safest out of all four of us." Violet responds with a scoff of her own. He shrugs in response.

"Can't argue with that, I guess."

They finally reach the gate, where Mitch is sitting on the watchtower. Aasim probably had Ruby put him up there to wait for them. He jumps down, opening the gate. They walk in, and are instantly greeted with the wonderful sounds of Brody arguing with Marlon.

They enter the yard, and Ruby turns from where she stands by the fire. 

"Took y'all a while." She says. Louis and Clem throw the bags up onto one of the picnic tables. One of them falls onto its side, the contents slipping out. 

"How poor are they that have not patience!" Louis recites. How he managed to take the time to memorize fucking Shakespeare, of all things, Violet wouldn't have a clue. Even before the literal apocalypse she didn't have a reason to care, or the attention span to memorize shit like that.  
Willy runs over, eyes wide at the sight of the jars and cans of food quite literally spilling out of the bag.

"Aasim! Mitch! Check it out! Food!" He shouts, hands cupped around his mouth. Violet can't help but smile a bit, and that seemed to be the case for Clem and Louis as well. Mitch comes up on Violet's right, and his eyebrows arch in surprise.

"That's like, a lot of food." he says.

"Observant as ever, Mitch." Louis says with a snort. The taller boy either doesn't hear, or doesn't care to react. Everyone gathers around, all seemingly amazed at the sheer amount of food.

"I can't believe this. Look at it!" Aasim says as he waves his hands in the bags' general direction.

"You're our savior, Clem." Willy says dramatically. Knowing him, though, it was completely serious. She laughs a bit.

"Violet and Louis helped too." She says.

"Yeah, but neither of them ever brought back this much before!" Aasim adds. Louis arches an eyebrow, arms crossed.

"Yeah? Well neither have you." Aasim shuts up after that.

Finally, Brody and Marlon stop their yapping, and decide to join the rest of the school around the table of food.

"Where... did you find this?" Brody asks suspiciously.

"The old train station. Clem knew where it was." Louis answers for them.

Brody thinks for a moment, before she looks up at him in fear.

"Train station... but that's outside the safe zone." she says quietly.

"Well, we'd have even more, but we ran into that creep who fucked up our rabbit traps." Violet cuts in with a frown. She didn't blame Clem. Hell, she wasn't mad at anyone other than him.

"Creep? What creep?"

"Clem saw him smoking those nasty ass bible cigarettes." Louis says with a frown.

"He had weird multi-colored eyes." Clem adds.

Brody hesitates, before her eyes go wide. She looks over to the gate with fear and suspicion. 

"Did he follow you?"

"No. We gave him some food, and we lost track of him in a swarm of walkers." Brody frowns at Clem's response, looking down, then around. Her shoulders tense up.

"You just let him take some of our food? What the fuck!" She suddenly shouts after gripping the bridge of her nose. "Now he knows we're out here, and he'll come back for more!" 

The group seems to clear out, save for Violet, Louis, AJ, and the two currently in an argument about food.

"What the hell were you thinking?" She approaches Clem, fists balled up.

"He was just a guy trying to eat. We all know what it's like to be hungry." Clem defends herself with a calm tone.

"What if he was lying? You don't know what people are capable of out there!" Brody shouts. Clem's face turns to a mild glare, tilting her head down slightly.

"Think again." her tone is cold. Brody seems to backtrack. However, instead of responding to her, she brushes past.

"I just can't. I won't... just, not again." She mumbles to herself, hand pressed against her head. 

"Fuck!" she shouts. 

"What the hell is going on over here?" Marlon's voice breaks through the tense air as he walks over.

"She took them outside the safe zone. They _saw_ someone! You know what that means!" Brody cries out. Marlon takes a deep breath, before he shouts.

"Enough!" Brody takes a defensive step back. Afraid. Violet frowns. "It just means that there's some hungry guy out there, looking for food. It's happened before. _You_ , are overreacting." he jabs a pointing finger towards Brody. She takes a few more steps backwards, shaking her head.

"You can't be serious!" Marlon hesitates, before stepping in front of her, grabbing her forearm. He glances behind at the small concerned group watching this play out before them.

"Come on. Let's go somewhere where we can talk about this." he says in a quieter tone. Brody looks up at him, before her scared expression morphs into a furious one. She shoves him back so roughly that he falls to his back, into the dirt.

"If _anything_ happens, I'm holding YOU," She jabs a finger towards Clem, "responsible!" before she stalks away towards the dorms. 

Marlon drags himself up off the ground, watching her leave before turning towards Clem.

"Clem, I know I asked you for help..." He pauses, thinking. "And you did. You did. But... shit."  
"No one died. Or got hurt for that matter." Clem responds. He looks at her, before glancing around. "You don't have to worry."

"I always do, though. I can't help it." he crosses his arms over his chest. "If anything happened to what's left of us... fuck, I don't even know what I'd do." Clem nods.  
"I understand the feeling." He looks at her and smiles a bit.

"Well... at least we're eating tonight. And the next few, I'd wager." he goes to walk off, before stopping. "Um, I'll go talk to Brody. Thanks for the haul. You guys should go enjoy it. You've earned it." 

"Don't do anything you'll regret." Clem adds quietly, but loud enough for him to hear, before he walks off.

"Yeesh." Louis mutters so only Violet can hear. She can't help but chuckle a bit. The entire time, the two had sat there at the table, watching that whole... Mess as it occurred. Not like they had any reason to butt in, and they had nothing to do until Omar finished the food.

"That was..." Violet trails off.

"Something, alright." Louis finishes for her. She shakes her head, smirking a bit. 

However, despite Violets' seemingly uncaring opinion towards... all of that, she couldn't help but worry. Brody seemed thoroughly terrified of that man in the woods. She hadn't even seen him, and yet she nearly went out into a full on panic attack. And then Marlon showed up, and seemed to make everything worse. She'd have to talk to Brody later on, when everything had cooled down. 

Brody and Clem would probably have to make up after that little spat of theirs. Brody genuinely had seemed baffled by her own words towards the other girl. 

The two have made their way to the table, where Omar has already managed to whip up a hot meal, and placed the bowls out. 

After a few minutes, Clem finally walks over, a sour expression on her face. She sits down besides Violet and AJ with her own bowl.

"Don't sweat it." Louis starts.

"Ever since we lost the twins, Brody's been freaked out by anything out past the safe zone." Violet continues. "She should be fine to talk to in a little bit. I'm sure she didn't mean what she said."

"Still, we shouldn't try to make this a common occurrence." Aasim says suddenly, coming up behind them. "We can take Rosie out tomorrow, and see if she catches a scent, just to be sure.

"I think I'm gonna go clean up." Violet says, standing from her seat. She makes her way out, placing the bowl near where they usually do by the fire, to be cleaned by someone in a rotating list. 

They had a long day. A long, confusing, and genuinely terrifying one. Violet needs a nap. A good, undisturbed ten hour one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOO!!! that was a long one rip... had to make sure the narration would match up properly for next chpter tho bc i am a FOOL and did not think abt that  
> now it is 12 and i have school tomorrow but oh well!!! we good
> 
> also... louis n violet watching everyone go feral at each other like some tv soap opera that you accidentally turn on and cant turn off even tho u dont know wtf is happening because its so wild? yeah.


	12. Chapter 12

The basement is cold. Clementine holds one of the two heavy doors open as she steps down, before lowering gently as she gets low enough into the room. The voices of Marlon and Brody are obvious. Their words are now understandable, no longer muffled by walls, or the loudening sounds of a growing storm, preparing to hit the school in minutes.

“Dammit Brody, we don’t even know if it was them!” Marlon says, his tone exasperated. Clem crouches down a bit as she sneaks, slowly nearing the two. A light is visible from behind a shelf of random objects and boxes. The only thing separating Clem, from them.

“And he got away! How do we know that he didn’t follow them?” Brody shouts. More panicked than Marlon. They must be talking about the man from the woods, but that must mean that they knew him.

To send Brody into such a frenzy must mean he was dangerous… that much was clear already, though. He seemed to have no issue pointing a gun around just for some food.

“You know he’s not alone.” Brody says more quietly, anger evident in her voice, accusing. Clem creeps closer. The voices echo in the stone, underground room. “Those bastards are back, and you know it’s only a matter of time before they come and find us!” 

“We don’t know shit, Brody. Neither of us do! Fuck, keep it together!” Marlon says through audibly gritted teeth. He huffs, clearly frustrated. Both of them were, especially given they were arguing loudly enough to hear through the pipes.

“There you go again, getting so mad!” Brody says frantically. 

“Well, well what do you want me to do? You’re making me mad!” 

“Oh, we have to tell the others. What you did, we just have to.”

One more step closer towards the shelf. The two’s faces are visible through the boxes. Unfortunately, that meant Clem was visible too.

“Who’s there?” Marlon says, the flashlight whirling around towards the dark. “Come on, show yourself.”

Clem steps into the beam of the flashlight. Brody’s scared expression changes to one of relief, while Marlon’s hardened expression softens.

“Clem…” Brody says softly. Marlon looks to her, shaking his head, teeth gritted.

“Why are you two down here, arguing in the dark?” Clem asks, stepping forward, eyes squinting at the brightness of the flashlight.

“We were just having a chat. You should really just head back upstairs and get some shut eye.” Marlon suggests. Clem arches an eyebrow.

“It didn’t exactly sound like a friendly chat.” She pauses for only a moment. “Also, you guys woke me up.” 

“Oh I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize we were being so loud.” Brody cuts in, looking up from where she was frowning at the ground. 

“Do you guys want to tell me what’s going on?” Clem asks. Brody and Marlon glance at each other. The boy frowns, before stepping in front of Clem, blocking Brody from her view.

“It’s nothing. Just a little issue. Nothing to worry about, and you should just go back to bed.” Marlon says.

Clem glances around at Brody. She has a hand curled up at her chin, looking at the ground.

“The man at the station… we have history.” She suddenly bursts out. Marlon turns towards her, face morphed into a snarl.

“Brody…” he warns. He turns back to face Clementine. “Don’t listen to her, Clem. She’s just acting crazy.” Clem exhales roughly through her nose.

“Brody, you don’t have to be scared. Just say what you have to.” Clem says, stepping up so she’s face to face with Marlon. Or, as face to face as she can be when her head barely reaches his nose. “What ‘history’?”

Brody hesitates, eyes wide as she looks anywhere but at Marlon. Her eyes finally land on Clementine’s, brows furrowed.

“Marlon… he, he let the man take the twins.” Brody’s face morphs into one of anger as she speaks. 

She seems bold now, as opposed to how meek and afraid of Marlon she had been before. Perhaps it was the fact that someone else was there to keep her safe.

“Dammit Brody,” Marlon growls, stepping towards her.

“Tenn’s sisters… I thought they were killed by walkers?” Clem asks. They must have lied. 

“That’s what we told everyone-“

“Shut up!” Marlon says.

“Marlon!” Clem shouts over him.

“That’s what _Marlon_ said because he was so ashamed-“ Brody continues

“I _said_.” Marlon’s fists visibly clench around the flashlight. Clem’s eyes widen in fear. “SHUT UP!”

A slight pause. So small, that under any other circumstances, Clem wouldn’t have noticed it. Time seemed to slow down. Of course, not literally, and not slow enough that she could react. 

Marlon throws the flashlight against the wall, and pushes Brody’s shoulders. The girl slams into the boiler with a massive clang.

“W-what’d you say?” Brody asks, dazed, before sliding to the floor. The spot where her head hit leaves a visible dent.

“Oh shit, Brody!” Marlon cries out. “I’m so sorry!” He rushes to her side, crouching down. “Why…” he practically cries. “Why did you say it? I told you not to say it!” He says quietly, panicked. “HELP!” He shouts.

“What did you _do_?” Clem asks in fear, eyes wide and angry. Marlon looks up at her, terrified, shaking his head. He doesn’t even know himself. 

“Just- get away from her!” She shouts. He stands up, rubbing his head with both hands, breathing heavy.

“Fuck, just, stay here- there’s a first aid kid here _somewhere_.” He says. 

“A first aid kit?” Clem asks, baffled. For all they knew, she could have fucking brain damage! “Brody just…” Clem hesitates. The girl is still breathing, still moving, slightly. “Just stay still.” She gently grabs the girls hand to try and comfort her as she lifts her head slightly, eyes opened wide.

Both pupils are dilated widely. Even the light from the flashlight, abandoned on the floor doesn’t seem to bring light to her eyes.

“Who? I-I can’t…” the girl stutters. “I can’t see.” Clem frowns fearfully. Fuck, she hopes it isn’t permanent. That she’ll make it out of this alive.

“It’s Clementine, remember?” Brody only furrows her brow. “We talked about going to see the beach, to swim and drive on the coast.” She looks down. Brody’s hand clutches her’s like a lifeline. “The sun.”

“Clem… you’re in danger. You and AJ.” She croaks out, scared. Her head lolls a bit. “Marlon’ll kill me if I tell…” she whispers. Her head turns towards Clem’s general direction. “He’s scared… and when he’s scared, gets angry.” She says softly. 

Clementine brings their two hands up, placing her other over Brody’s fingers.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. I won’t let him hurt anyone else.” She says. Brody smiles a bit. 

“I know. You’re strong. Not like me, or how Marlon thinks he is.” She looks downward a bit. “When those raiders come back…” she hesitates. “He said he’d have to give you to them.” She whispers.

“Give us to them?” Clem asks fearfully. Brody nods.

“To make them go away.” 

Marlon steps out from behind a shelf. His eyes are wide, stricken with fear.

“Like… like he did with Tenn’s sisters.” Her voice grows quieter. Softer. She doesn’t cough, or convulse painfully. She only… slowly shuts her eyes. Her head gently thuds against the boiler.

“Brody!” Clem says, Brody’s hand falling from her grasp.

Clem looks up to Marlon.

“Oh fuck. No. Oh no. What the hell am I gonna do?” He steps back, foot hitting the flashlight. It rolls a bit to the side, pointing in a different direction. Now the three are in the dark. 

The two that are still breathing have a sudden realization.

“She’s gonna turn.” Marlon whispers.

Seemingly without a second thought, Marlon dashes away, towards the outside basement doors. As he does, his foot hits the flashlight, rolling it so it hits Brody’s leg, and brushes past the shelf, something falls off. Clem doesn’t hear it clatter against the ground.

“Marlon!” Clementine shouts at him, terrified. 

She’d be locked down there with her dying, or already dead friend. He would frame her, and they’d come down to find either two walkers, or that Clementine had smashed in Brody’s walker face. 

Who would they believe, their friend of several years, or the person they had known for three days? This is fucked. So, so fucked.

Marlon races up the stairs and out the doors, slamming them down just over Clementine’s head.

“Marlon, you son of a bitch! You’re better than this!” She shouts. 

“I’m sorry!” He shouts at her through the small gap between the doors. Lightning flashes in the sky, barely visible behind him. “I can’t let you talk to the others!” He disappears into the courtyard.

“God dammit!” Clementine shouts. She bangs on the doors with her elbows, pushing on them the best she can. “Marlon! Anyone!” She slows down. “AJ!” She finally stops. It was no use. She’d have to find a new way out.

She rushes down the stairs. She passes Brody, who is still unmoving as she quickly approaches the inside entrance, or, exit, in this case, to the basement. Locked. She curses under her breath.

Clem picks up the flashlight from where it’s rolled, to find that there’s blood on it. She points it near the ground where Brody is.

She gasps. Whatever Marlon knocked off the shelf, it was sharp, and it cut Brody’s leg, and now Clementine’s hands were covered in blood.

She sighs. She could get cleaned up later. A bit of blood was no issue, given the current circumstances.

The sound of rain and thunder rolling through the sky is loud outside, the storm finally hitting. She slowly makes her way around the basement.

A ruler, finally. She grabs it with a gasp. She could use it to pry open the bar holding the doors shut. She runs past Brody one last time. She’d have time to mourn later. Right now, she had to make sure that she didn’t get blamed for her death. 

Clementine pushes the bar up, and shoves the doors open. Instantly, the rain splatters on her face, and starts to soak her too-long hair.

“Get this fucking psycho away from me!” Marlon shouts in the courtyard over the sounds of thunder, Rosie barking, and the murmur of the students gathering outside.

“Where is she?!” AJ shouts. The basement doors slam shut behind her, yet the sound goes unnoticed to the distracted group. 

Clem makes her way over, face shaped in anger. AJ aims his gun at Marlon, arms outstretched in front of him. No one moves, save for the blonde and the young boy.

“She’s-she’s in the basement! She killed Brody!” He shouts, pointing towards the doors Clementine just came out of. Clem halts in her steps, and everyone leans forward, terrified.

“What?!” Several of them exclaim. AJ slightly lowers his gun.

Clementine scoffs. Enough is enough. She throws the flashlight to the ground, before stalking over.

“Why Brody?” Ruby asks, voice wavering.

“Did you see it happen?” Aasim interrogates.

“Hey Marlon!” Clementine’s voice erupts from behind them. The few standing between her and Marlon clears as they step aside. “You may want to get your story straight!” She stops, hand on her hip.

“Clem!” AJ exclaims, relieved. The gun doesn’t lower.

“ _YOU_ killed Brody. You pushed her so hard that she left a dent in the boiler!” 

“That’s a lie!” Marlon howls. “I saw _YOU_ kill her!”

“What the hell is going on?” Violet shouts, arriving from the dorm building with Tenn and Louis.

“Look at her! She has Brody’s blood all over her hands!” Marlon shouts, pointing at Clementine, who looks down. Fuck. Maybe it would’ve been a good idea to clean that off.

“Jesus christ Clem…” Aasim mutters, stepping back.

”What did you do, Clem?” Tenn asks softly, rhetorically.

AJ looks at her, saddened. Marlon suddenly dashes forward, wrenching the gun from his hands, and pushing the boy to the ground.

He points the gun into the air. Rosie barks louder. Louis rushes down, helping AJ up gently.

“We saved their lives, when anyone else would’ve kept walking! We fed them, kept them warm. And for what?! To have them pointing guns in our faces, killing our friends?” He shouts, his voice echoing throughout the courtyard. He points the gun down at Clem, stalking forward. “Well FUCK them!” 

Clementine takes rapid steps back.

“What the fuck!”

“Marlon!”

“Jesus christ!”

Several voices shout as the two stop a few feet away from each other.

“You shoot me, who do you have to offer when your raider friends come knocking?” Clementine shouts over the various sounds, stepping forward despite the gun. 

This wasn’t the first time she’s been on the bad end of the muzzle of a gun, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to stand around and let it be the last time.

“What the hell is she talking about?” Aasim asks, arms gesturing in the air.

“He won’t do it, because he needs us alive!” Clementine growls. Marlon glances between her and the students gathered to the side. He keeps the gun trained on her.

“Brody said that he was going to give me and AJ up to the raiders in exchange for safety!” Clementine shouts as she turns towards the group. “The same way he gave up Sophie and Minnie!” She finishes as her eyes land on Tenn.

“Oh my god!” Ruby says from behind Clementine as she faces Marlon once again.

Marlon’s eyes go wide, mouth agape.

“Shut the fuck up, Clementine!” He grows angry once again, not even denying it.

“Let her talk!” Aasim shouts.

“Brody told me the truth, and that’s when Marlon killed her!

Everyone looks at each other, all either fearful, or sceptical, or even a little bit of both.

“Aw, come the _fuck_ on!” He says, keeping the gun aimed at Clem as he walks forward. “They only met up with these _raiders_ because Clem insisted they go out there! Quite a coincidence. It’s a shame I don’t believe in those!”

He continues walking around. Clem only bites her tongue. 

“Think of how scared everyone was when the adults left. I pulled us out of that fear. I gave you all courage again!” He pauses, nose wrinkled as he turns to glare at Clementine. “And who are you going to believe? Me? Your friend, your leader? Or Johnny-come-lately and her little fucking lunatic?”

He finally stops his pacing. Clem stops all her thoughts. Whatever happens next. Whatever she does next. Whatever she _says_ next could either make or break her.

“She _did_ bring us food.”

“But what good is that food if raiders come and take it?”

“We don’t know her yet, y’all.” 

The voices mix in her head. Clementine blocks it out.

“Violet, you have to believe me.” She finally says. The blonde hesitates, surprised or scared, Clem couldn’t tell.

“You don’t! You met her like, two days ago!” Marlon shouts. His fingers are all curled around the grip. None on the trigger.

“I don’t know you, Clem. Not really.” She says, arms crossed, looking down. “I’m sorry.”

“This isn’t like you.” Clem starts softly. “I _know_ you’re not weak!”

“Don’t let her get inside your head!” Marlon shouts. Violet flinches. “Hey. What would Minnie want you to do?” He taps his chest. “She was my friend too. And so was Brody!”

Clem looks at Marlon as he waves the gun towards her again.

“Clem, I…” Violet hesitates, uncrossing her arms. “Shit…”

“Don’t tell me you’re buying his bullshit! You can smell it a mile away!” 

Violet’s hands clench. Her shoulders tense, and her face turns angry, before she walks to stand between the gun and Clementine defensively. She pulls her cleaver from her belt, head lowered threateningly.

Marlon is surprised for a moment, before smirking, shaking his head.

“Violet being difficult. Why am I not surprised?”

“Put down the gun, Marlon. We’re gonna do this the right way.” Violet points at the ground.

“Be reasonable!” Aasim adds. Everyone walks forward, surround the boy, standing beside Clem and Violet when they had previously been behind.

“You don’t get it.” Marlon says, scared. The gun points in different directions, at different people as if to wave them back. “You don’t understand at all do you?!” He waves it around some more. “I’m trying, to PROTECT you!” He shouts.

“Well you’re failing fucking spectacularly! You _suck_ at protection!” Clementine shouts, walking forward to face him once more.

“I’m trying to protect you! Every! Last! One of you!” His voice cracks. The rain continues to pour, and Rosie starts barking again. “I did it to keep you all safe, and if it came down to it, I’d do it again!”

“Excuse me?” Ruby shouts from behind Clem, stepping forward.

“I didn’t realize we were so fucking expendable!” 

“You’re a dick!” 

“You told me they _died_!” Tenn’s voice rings the loudest. Marlon’s face falls. The gun is still pointed at Clem.

“I did it to save the rest of you.”

“You gave me sisters away!” He walks towards Marlon, face wrinkled in anguish. “Why would you do something like that?” The boy nearly sobs.

“He was in a tight spot. He did the wrong thing. He did it for the right reason, but that doesn’t mean he should go unpunished for it.” Marlon finally lowers the gun slowly, looking down at the ground.

“I wanted to get them. To stage some kind of rescue.” He shakes his head. “Honest, Tenn. I just, I couldn’t. I couldn’t risk losing the rest of you.”

“You killed Brody, because she knew?” Tenn asks. Marlon nods.

“I didn’t mean to. I didn’t want this.” The boy sobs. “I didn’t want to hurt them. Sophie. Minerva. Brody.”

Clementine steps forward.

“We can still fix this, Marlon.” She says softly. Marlon shakes his head. “It’s going to be okay. We can make this right.”

“We can help you.” Louis finally speaks up, stepping forward. “We’re all family here. All that we have left.”

The gun slips from Marlon’s hand. He reaches up to his eyes, covering them as he shakes his head. His hands pinch the bridge of his nose before he turns to face them once more.

“I… I know I betrayed all of you.” Clementine gently places a hand on AJ’s shoulder. “Just let me leave. Let me leave, and you won’t ever have to be afraid of me again. I can just be another bad memory.” He steps towards Clem, face saddened.

She shakes her head.

“No, you can stay.” He opens his mouth to protest before she cuts him off. “Just not as leader.” She says in a softer, quieter tone. 

The tall boy breaks down, sobbing, shaking his head. Someone, Clem doesn’t see who, gently pulls AJ from her side, and Marlon practically collapses into her arms.

For years, the boy played pretend with a strong, unbreakable facade. He alone bore the weight of the school. Each one of the deaths of his friends, his family, added to that weight heavier than if they were alive. 

And finally, tonight was the straw that broke his camel’s back.

Clem was rarely one to hug people, particularly ones she didn’t know very well. She was sure that Marlon wasn’t either.

She lets him cry until he finally quiets down. He stands up, face red, eyes puffy.

 

The night goes on. Marlon goes to Louis’ dorm room. Tenn and Willy sit on the stairs leading up to the admin building, the overhang protecting them from the rain as they wait for the others to exit the basement.

Clem creeps down the steps of the basement with Violet and Mitch. Ruby and AJ sit outside, holding the doors wide open. 

Typically, they would have waited until tomorrow to go retrieve a body. However, this time, they had to deal with a walker. Even if it was highly unlikely, they still didn’t want anyone to _somehow_ forget about tonight’s madness, wander downstairs, and then get eaten.

Violet holds her cleaver in one hand, the flashlight in her other. Clem holds her knife, and Mitch holds his. Violet aims the flashlight around the ground, looking for any blood. 

Finally, she points it up a bit, further down the long length of the room, where the boiler is. Where Brody died.

Clem gasps, and can hear the other two do the same. They all share glances. _Could she still be alive_?

They approach cautiously, and Mitch grabs something from a shelf, and tosses it at Brody’s slumped over body. It hits her leg. No response.

They all hesitate, before suddenly rushing towards her. They all reach for different pressure points, and Violet screams up at Ruby.

“Fuck, you guys, she’s alive!” 

In an instant, Ruby practically runs down the stairs with AJ on her heels. She nearly pushes Mitch over as she kneels down beside Brody.

“Hey!” He hisses. “Watch it.” Ruby glares at him, but doesn’t bother to respond. 

They sit there, surrounding Brody with held breaths as Ruby taps on Brody’s shoulder. The girl groans a bit, but doesn’t wake. 

“Why in the damn world didn’t you check to see if she was still alive earlier? We could’ve avoided so much trouble…” Ruby grumbles. Clementine almost doesn’t respond. She couldn’t be more relieved to find out the girl was still alive.

So many times, she had to be there to watch, or even to put down her friends and family. This time, her friend would live.

“I had to try to get out. You saw what happened, and I didn’t want it to get worse or else you wouldn’t believe me.” Ruby nods, understanding.

She leans the other girl forward, her head lolling down. Ruby winces a bit, hissing.

There’s a painful looking bump on the back of her head, where it hit the boiler.

“Let’s get her to her room.” Ruby says. “Someone…” she hesitates. “Someone better tell the others. And Marlon. That boy…” she scowls. “What he did is awful, and I want to hate him for it, but he deserves to know.” 

Mitch sighs, getting to his feet.

“Wait, where’d all this blood come from?” Violet suddenly asks, still crouched down nearly Brody’s leg. The bottom of her boots, and now her hands have the sticky red substance on them.

Clementine points at a cut on Brody’s leg. Lucky, it doesn’t seem like it hit something major, but damn, it sure bled a lot.

“Marlon knocked something off the shelf when he was rushing to lock me in here.” She says with a scowl. 

“Well, you gonna stop chatting and help me get her to her damn room?” Mitch growls, grabbing Brody under her arms. “Clementine, help me out here.” Clementine gets up to her feet, and helps lift Brody up carefully. She didn’t want her to get hurt any more than she already was.

“I’m going to go get a first aid kit so we can stitch up her leg.” Ruby says, getting to her feet, and walking towards the exit.

“AJ, go help her.” Clementine tells the boy. He races off after her, excited. She turns to Violet. “Do you think you could…” she trails off. Violet sighs, nodding. 

The blonde girl walks off to go tell everyone the good news, the sole eye in this hurricane of a night.

As Clem helps Mitch get Brody to her room, she can’t stop replaying Marlon’s last words to her as he finished crying, before he went with Louis.

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn! We finally made it! 
> 
> I DID skip the first scene when the shouting wakes them up- sorry about that! There was just nothing rly changed or much that was suuuuper important there so!!!!! YEAH
> 
> And this is when shit gets weeeeird!! Just yall wait!!! 
> 
> Its 2am please send help
> 
> -also, this is super close to 100 kudos! Im super appreciative of all yall ;o; !!!


	13. Chapter 13

A sigh escapes Violet’s mouth. Of course she was ecstatic at the fact that Brody was alive, but only about 20 minutes had passed since the cacophony of disaster took place in the yard. Honestly, the events that took place during the night so soon before still hadn’t completely registered in her brain.

Unfortunately, she was still tired. She had only slept a short time, and it was beginning to look like she wouldn’t get much more. Right now, she had to bring good tidings to the other kids. 

Marlon had relinquished the keys to the inside basement door, and that was the way that the others had went. Violet opts to start from the outside doors, where they had entered. She climbs up the few steps, the doors still open. The rain has lessened to a gentle sprinkle. A friendly change of pace for a good ending to a bad night. 

Violet supposes that she best start with Tenn and Willy. She’d work her way around to Aasim, then Omar, and then Louis, and finally on to Marlon.

She approaches the two boys on the steps. They both get to their feet, puzzled at the fact that the others hadn’t come out with Brody’s body yet.

“Is something wrong?” Tenn asks first. Both of them stare at her with wide, expectant eyes. Violet offers a small, genuinely happy smile.

“She’s not dead. She just got knocked out when she hit the boiler, and both Clem and Marlon were so panicked that they forgot the check to see if she was actually dead.” There’s a moments pause at her response, when Willy erupts into cheers and loud whooping.

“Fuck yeah!” He shouts, jumping down the steps. “Tenn, come on!”

“Uh, where are we going?” Tenn asks. Willy shrugs.

“To Brody, I guess!” Willy races off towards the dorms. Tenn stops and looks at Violet.

“She’s in her dorm, right?” She nods. Before he follows Willy, he continues, expression unsure. “Do you think that… my sisters could still be alive?”

For the first time that night, Violet realizes that they could actually be alive. She looks up a little bit. 

Violet was over Minnie. It had been that way for a while. She was still fucked up over it, finally getting ejected out of the mourning with Clementine’s arrival, sure, but fuck, dude. They didn’t even question Marlon when he had announced they died when they arrived. They took his word for it without an issue.

It sucks that it turned out his word was a bunch of shit.

“Maybe.” Is all she says. She doesn’t say any of her thoughts besides that one word. It was nice to hope. It was almost like they were brought from the dead. Well, actually brought from the dead, so they have critical thinking, and aren’t an endlessly hungering mouth with legs.

Tenn just smiles a bit. Violet’s slight hope was enough for him. It was adorable, if not a bit worrying, how much he looked up to her. She wasn’t the best role model, but it was cute.

The boy then walks off to Brody’s room, the one beside Violet’s. Sure, she moved out. It didn’t mean she couldn’t stay close, though.

Now all she had to do, was find Aasim or Omar. Omar is probably in his room, while Aasim could potentially be anywhere.

“Hey!” A voice shouts from above, near the front entrance. She looks up, puzzled. Well, looks like the game of ‘where is Aasim?’ Is now over. “What’s going on?” The boy asks as Violet walks over, standing in front of the ladder.

Honestly, they were kind of lucky that _someone_ had the bright idea to set someone up on watch. After Marlon broke down, everyone sort of just spread out and did whatever. Literally anything- or anyone, could have gotten through the gates, and they wouldn’t have known until it was too late.

“Brody’s still alive.” She calls up at him. He gapes in surprise.

“Shit, seriously?” He sounds baffled before he does a doubletake on himself. “Like. I’m glad, trust me, but damn. All that freaking out and she turns out fine?” Violet just chuckles.

“Yeah. It’s pretty fucking great though.” Violet then sighs for what was probably the thousandth time. “Do you have any idea where Omar is?” She asks. He thinks for a moment before shrugging.

“I’d guess he’s in his room. You trying to dance around telling Marlon?” Violet rubs the back of her neck.

“Yeah, kind of.” She turns to walk away. “Thanks, Aasim. If you see anything… I dunno, come hollering or something.” She looks back just to see him nod in response, before she enters the dorms. 

Walking through the halls is always a melting pot of different feelings. The hall made her felt safe, being her home for so many years. It made her mad, being shipped off and abandoned by the people she was supposed to trust. Now, all she can feel is happiness. Happiness that everyone, as of now, is safe. 

Violet walks towards Omar’s room. Just around the corner is her own, and then Brody’s. Everyone is probably sitting outside because Ruby wouldn’t want them standing over her. Oh, what she would pay just to turn that corner and drop into her bed and just sleep forever. If she could, she’d pull her knife out right then and there and chop her own finger off. Unfortunately, things needed to be done.

She knocks on Omar’s door gently.

“Come in.” 

She turns the knob, pushing it open slowly.

“Ah, Violet. What is it?” The boy sits at his desk, reading a book that must have been pulled from the library before Marlon closes it off. 

“Uh,” she hesitates. “Brody’s still alive. I just thought I’d let everyone know.” His eyes widen in surprise before he smiles. He shuts the book and sets it on the desk.

“Well, that sure is good news.” Violet chuckles, nodding in response.

“Damn right it is.” She glances around the room, not having stepped inside the door all the way, not wanting to intrude. “Well, I better go tell the others. She’s not awake right now, so you don’t have to go see her right away. Uh, if you want, someone could come tell you when she wakes up?” 

The boy nods. “That would be nice, yes.” Violet smiles, taking a step back and preparing to shut the door. “Oh, and Violet?” She looks at him curiously. “Thank you for coming to let me know.” She clicks her tongue at him.

“No problem. Cya.” Violet says as she shuts the door. She lets out a large breath. And now, the moment she was least excited for. Of course, Louis isn’t a problem. Marlon is.

She’s bitter. Bitter that Marlon traded the twins away, and didn’t tell anyone at the school, instead lying for a year to all of their faces. Bitter that he tried to blame Brody’s supposed murder on Clementine. 

Of course, Violet couldn’t hold a grudge against him. He is there to stay, and she wouldn’t hold it against the rest of the school for wanting to keep him. Hell, she’s averse to the idea of kicking him out anyways.

Violet walks down the hall, and turns the corner. Her suspicious are proved correct. Clementine, AJ, Mitch, Tenn, and Willy are all sitting in the hall around Brody’s room. She passes them wordlessly. She locks eyes with Tenn, who only shakes his head slightly. She sighs. 

Of course it was unlikely for Brody to be awake already, but she couldn’t help but be worried. 

Maybe when she wakes up, and her head is healed well enough, she could move back in with Violet. Violet certainly misses the company that a roommate provides. Sure, the privacy is nice, but she can’t help but feel safer when there was someone else in the room with her.

She passes through the doorway at the end of the hall, and up the flight of stairs. Another hallway of rooms, almost all of them empty. The rooms slowly emptied over the years, with deaths, and with general moving out and into other rooms. Willy and Tenn share a room, Mitch has his own. Marlon used to room up here, beside Louis’ room, before he practically started living in Ericson’s office.

Violet approaches the door. She can hear muffled talking. Rather than listen in, she takes in a deep breath before knocking. The voices go silent. There’s a beat of silence, before Louis pulls the door open.

“Ah, Violet, what a wonderful surprise.” She stares at him, unimpressed. “Yeesh, tough crowd.”

“Look, Lou, I just have to tell you something.” The boy places the back of his hand to his forehead.

“Alas, ye finally profess your undying love for me?” Violet rolls her eyes at him. He steps into the hall, shutting the door behind him gently. “Okay, but seriously, what is it?”

“So, Brody’s…” she rubs the back of her head. “She’s still alive. She just passed out when he shoved her.” Louis gapes.

“Holy shit.” He whispers. Violet snorts. “Seriously though, like, _holy shit_!” He cheers, jumping up. “God, that’s fucking great!” He reaches for the doorknob.

“Wait,” Violet stops him, placing a hand on his wrist. “Is Marlon gonna be cool?” 

“I mean, right now he’s definitely calmed down. Right now we’re just playing cards, if that’s what you mean.” Violet shrugs.

“Alright, I guess.” She considers having him let her tell Marlon. “I was going to tell him, but you can if you want.” He places a hand to his heart.

“From the bottom of my soul…” he dramatically closes his eyes. “Hell. Fucking. Yes.” 

And with that, he practically disappears as he dashes into his room, and slams the door shut behind him.

Honestly, that was way easier to do than Violet expected. Worryingly so, actually. However, two shits could not be given, as Violet has a date planned, and that date involves her, two shut eyes, and a grungy, yet warm bed with her name on it.

 

The door to Violet’s room bursts open. A light sleeper, she’s instantly sitting up, rubbing her bleary eyes. It’s morning by now, given the bright light shooting from the window.

“The fuck?” She asks, blinking her eyes to see Clementine standing in the doorway.

“Marlon’s gone.” 

“What?” 

“Marlon’s gone, Louis said he woke up and he had just disappeared.”

Violet flops backwards onto her bed roughly, the springs creaking beneath her.

“Fuuuuuuuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow yall, 100 kudos!!! This is crazy!!! I hope yall know that like. It means a lot to me that so many of yall enjoy this, and i hope you continue to do so!!


	14. Chapter 14

Walking through the woods with AJ and Mitch, looking for the boy who pointed a gun to her face the night before, was not exactly the morning that Clementine was expecting. However, here she was, doing exactly that.

That morning, Clementine had a rather rude awakening. Louis had bursted into her room, announcing to her, after screaming to the school that Marlon had disappeared during the night. The boys had been bunking together in Louis’ room until morning, and when he woke up, the boy was gone. 

Given that Aasim claimed not to have seen him while on watch, he probably snuck over a wall out of sight. And now, because of him running away, Clementine’s small group, along with another group consisting of Louis, Violet, and Aasim are now searching the forest for the boy.

It's been nearly an hour of wandering through the woods, and Mitch appears to be growing more and more frustrated by the minute. Of course, Clementine feels the same, yet is not showing it as dramatically as him. 

He kicks a pinecone as hard as he can, sending it through the air and crunching against a tree.

“Dammit Marlon…” he mutters under his breath, just loudly enough for Clementine to hear.

The three decided early on that yelling for Marlon would be a no-go. Seeing as he seems to have left voluntarily, shouting his name would only tell him they were nearby. That, and they didn’t need to attract any more walkers to the school than there are already.

They continue searching, passing the occasional empty hunting trap, when a walker catches sight of them. Mitch quickly surges forward, sinking his sharpened knife into its head. He rips it out, kicking the corpse to the ground. He pants, before something catches his attention.

“Shit.” He lifts his hand, pointing into the trees. “There’s about 6 walkers headed this way.” He warns them.

“We should try and avoi-“ Clem starts. However, Mitch seems to have other plans. The boy makes his way over with a worrying pep in his step.

At least he’ll get some of his frustrations out without hurting someone else. Clementine follows behind him, with AJ on her right. She takes out one of the walkers, and as she pulls her knife out of the second one, Mitch lets out a strangled yelp. Clementine turns in surprise, seeing him trying to push one of the walkers off as another one looms behind, only a few feet away.

Clementine jumps forward, sinking the blade into the walker behind him, just as it reaches for him. Mitch pushes the walker on him away, picking his knife up from where it fell. He swings it upwards, sending the blade up through its jaw with a crunch.

“Thanks.” He says after a moment's pause, before he goes after the next walker. Clementine nods, before turning towards where AJ is, backing up towards Clem. Shit, how had she thought he’d be able to take on a walker with a knife? The boy couldn’t even reach an average walker’s head!

Clementine steps in front of him quickly, taking the walker out, the human-turned-monster gurgles just before it dies.

Mitch rips his knife out of the last walker, and with that, they continue walking, and searching. 

Ten minutes pass, and the three have made no progress. No track of the boy, and it wasn’t like they had Rosie with them to follow his smell or something. No, Rosie was with Violet’s search party. Suddenly, Mitch clears his throat.

“I gotta admit Clem, you’re taking this whole Marlon thing really well. Fuck, if I was in your shoes last night? I don’t think I would’ve let him stay. Actually, you don’t even really seem all that mad about the whole thing.” The boy rambles to her. She lets out a humorless chuckle and shakes her head.

“Believe me, I’m pissed about this whole thing.” The boy snorts. “But Marlon… he’s a good person. It’s easy to see that. It just seems like being in charge wore him down, until he finally snapped.” She sighs, looking down at the ground as she walks. “I’ve seen it happen first hand.”

“Oh?” Mitch asks, an eyebrow raised. Clementine nods. She had forgotten that she hasn’t really talked about her past all that much.

“Yeah. Used to be this woman. Lilly, her name was. She was basically the leader of the first group I was in when this all started.” She pauses, thinking of the right words to say. “We only stuck together for a few months, before issues with food, and raiders started up. It started wearing down on her, fast. Her dad was killed, right in front of our eyes, and later she ended up killing one of our own.” She grimaces to herself. “Some people just aren’t fit to be leader. They just can’t handle it.” 

Mitch hums in response.

“Yeah, that makes sense I guess.” He shrugs to himself. “He always tried to be strong, and he just, always held up that stupid facade. ‘Everyone be strong! We can make it through this, despite how everyone we were supposed to trust abandoned us! Raaugh!’” Mitch says in a terrible, joke impersonation of the boy they were looking for. Clementine snorts. “Turns out he couldn’t even take his own advice.” 

He looks into the trees. Clementine spots a walker in the distance, most likely what he was looking at.

“I’m gonna go blow off some steam.” He prepares to walk towards the walker, before stopping. “Clementine.” She looks at him with a tilted head. “Stay real.” He advises. She arches an eyebrow. He only turns, and walks off. 

What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Clementine shakes her head at herself. Whatever, they have someone to be looking for. 

Clementine takes a few larger strides so she walks besides AJ, matching her pace with his.

“Clementine, do you really think Marlon’s good, or are you just saying that?” He asks, eyes bright as he looks up at Clementine.

“I think he’s good.” She plans on leaving it at that, before ultimately deciding to continue. “Sometimes good people do bad things. Marlon thought he was doing good, but he wasn’t.”

“Oh. Okay.” Is all he says, before falling silent. 

The two fall into a familiar rhythm. Quiet walking through the woods. However, this time they weren’t looking for life to kill, for food. This time, they are looking for life to keep alive. 

All is quiet. That is, until it isn’t.

A single gunshot rings out, the bullet hitting a tree just past them with a crunch of bark.

“Shit! Hide!” She ushers AJ towards the trees, farther from the overgrown path they were on.

They clutch the trees, Clem’s breath heavy as she crouches down. She peaks around the trunk, and is unsurprised to see the man from the train station.

“Come on out! You can’t hide forever.” His voice is gritty. It reminds her of Pete’s voice, if he was cruel instead of kind. The man holds a shotgun as he slowly walks nearer their hiding spot. Clem lunges forward from behind the tree with her knife.

The element of surprise gives her a slight advantage, knocking his gun from his hand. Unfortunately, size and strength gives him the upper hand. He pushes on her, threatening to topple her, before she brings her leg up, and kicks him just above the knee and sending him toppling.

“Tough little bitch, aren’t’cha?” He says with a gritty chuckle. She nearly grimaces. He sounds like he has a hunk of phlegm caught in his throat.

“Just leave us alone, and we’ll let you go.” She says. Unfortunately, he has no chance to do so. Something touches the back of her head. The sadly tell-tale feeling of a gun pressed against her head.

Instantly, she drops her knife to her side, and lifts her hands up. The man gets to his feet, a cheeky grin on his face as he grabs his gun. The gun of a man who’s achieved victory. He shakes his head, before hitting her in the stomach with the butt of his gun. She chokes out a cough, clutching her stomach, and a firm foot on her back kicks her onto the ground face first.

With Clementine on the ground, the person holding the gun to her head places a foot on the back of her neck to hold her in place. She reaches for her knife. She feels the foot press harder, and the man kicks the knife away.

Through the grass, AJ creeps near with his gun. Suddenly breaking into a sprint, he dashes forward, gun aimed at the man. 

“I wouldn’t, boy!” He aims the shotgun at AJ with a snarl. “Any closer, and your friend here might get her head blown off.”

“Abel.” The other voice warns. The man, Abel, walks towards AJ.

“Good to see you again, squirt.” He says, before swinging the gun around and hitting the boy in the side of the head with the muzzle. Clem’s fist curls up, fingernails digging into her palm.

“Don’t” she says through gritted teeth. Abel grabs AJ by the back of the shirt, lifting him up and turning around, as if presenting a rogue kitten.

“I’ve seen these two before.” He says through a laugh. “Fighters, both of them. You’ll like them.”

“We’re looking for a kid. Runs a community through here.” The woman above her says.

“Marlon,” Abel cuts in.

“I don’t know where he is. He ran off.” 

“Well, shit.” The woman says.

“This can still work.” Abel starts.

“How about it? You can take us back to your little school of friends and help us talk to them?” The woman offers.

AJ struggles in Abel’s grip.

“Hell no.” Clem hisses as the woman digs her foot into her neck harder. Abel twists AJ’s arm upwards, and he yells in pain. “Don’t!”

“I wouldn’t be so rude to the person pointing a gun at your head.” The woman warns.

“Let him go, please!” Clementine shouts.

“Well sure, if you do what we ask.” Abel laughs. “Otherwise, I’ll gladly crack his head open. You ever thrown old fruit at a wall just to watch it explode? That’s how it’ll look.” Clementine grimaces as he smiles as he says this.

The woman lifts her foot from Clem’s back, before kicking her, and knocking the wind out of her. She rolls on her side, so she now lays on her back, elbows holding her up, breathing heavily. That’s sure to bruise.

“Clementine!” AJ shouts.

Clementine looks up, finally able to see the woman holding her at gunpoint. Her eyes go wide. Speak of the damn devil. 

“Oh. My. God.” The woman says, her own eyes wider. “Clementine, it’s you?” The gun lowers a bit. Clementine genuinely never thought she’d ever see her again. “I, it’s Lilly. You… probably don’t remember me…” she trails off.

“Lilly...” she says shakily. “I thought you died.”

“I came close.” The gun remains in her hand, yet goes to her side. She holds the other hand out.

“The hell?” Abel says, watching the scene play out.

“Not now.” Lilly says. Clementine reaches her hand out, accepting the help up. They both turn to look at Abel and AJ, the boy still struggling in his grip.

“I see Lee isn’t with you.” Lilly observes. Clementine looks away. The woman sighs. “So he’s dead then.” She takes a step to the side, looking out into the woods. “I’ll never forget him leaving me on the side of the road. I don’t blame him, of course. Not after I shot that girl.”

“Carley.” Clementine cuts in.

“Right. Maybe he should’ve left you behind too. Probably would’ve lived longer.” She turns back around, and nods towards AJ. “The same thing’ll happen to you, if you repeat his mistakes.”

“I know AJ can handle himself.” 

“He has spirit, I’ll give you that.”

“We don’t have time for this!” Abel says with a scoff.

“We have history.” Lilly says with a frown. The look is all-too familiar.

“Great. You know her, I know her. Fantastic. We have a job to do.” Lilly rolls her eyes before turning back to Clem.

“We can help you raise that boy, Clementine. But we need you to do something for us.”

“Help you what? Kidnap a couple more kids?” She responds with a scoff.

“We don’t need a couple of you, we need all of you.” Abel cuts in.

“We’ll take you all back to the Delta. We have walls, working solar panels, and we grow our own food.” Lilly steps closer. “All we need you to do, is go back, and convince all your little friends to come back with us, and no one will get hurt.”

“I’m not Marlon.” Clementine says with a frown. Abel twists AJ’s arm up again, causing him to cry out, and struggle.

“I’ll take squirt here now, that way I know you’ll play nice.” Clementine glares at him. However, just past him, she sees Mitch, and the other search party creeping up behind. 

They won’t be able to take them on, even if they outnumber them. Not without guns, at least. Little thought goes through Clementine’s mind before she acts.

“Run!” She shouts, cupping her hands around her mouth. Abel throws AJ to the ground, and both adults whirl around towards the search parties. Clementine kicks the back of Lilly’s knee. She cries out, stumbling forward. “Come on!” She says to AJ, pulling him to his feet, and running past with him right behind her.

Buckshots from the shotgun fly through the air. AJ shouts from behind, stumbling forward. She stops, helping him to his feet and pushing him ahead of her.

The boy clutches his bleeding abdomen. She growls, running behind him. More buckshots fly through the air, none hitting their mark.

They run through the trees, jumping over logs and crawling under rocks. Finally, Lilly lifts her rifle behind her. She pulls the trigger, and Clementine cries out as the bullet imbeds itself into her left arm. It burns, but she keeps running.

More bullets from behind. Each one missing their mark. 

Loud groans, the familiar sound of the dead grow louder ahead of them. They duck and weave through the small group of walkers that surround the adults previously chasing them.

“I think,” she huffs, “we lost them.” She says. A walker is upon her in an instant. She shoves it off of her, before looking around frantically. AJ, where is he? 

A soft groan from a few feet away. She quickly rounds a tree. AJ, clutching his bleeding stomach lifts his small knife. She takes it in her hand. 

The knife sinks into the heads and pull back out of them again like a grotesque dance. Something she had practically trained for for the better half of her life. Every time she finds herself surrounded, is like she’s finally performing for an audience that hates her. 

However, one walker breaks the rhythm of her usual dance. It moves quickly. She brings the knife up, expecting sharp claws and gnashing teeth. However, instead she gets a gentle, yet still strong hand on her wrist.

“No.” He says to her. Her eyes widen, and she nearly screams. He covers her mouth with a hand. “Quiet. Too loud.” He whispers. He releases his grip from her wrist, and moves his hand from her mouth. He turns around as Clem dashes to the side.

The boy limps into the crowd of walkers, going as unnoticed as just another of their kind. He crouches down, throwing a rock into the trees, echoing into the woods as it hits a trunk. 

They all turn towards the sound. Attracted to it, they leave, following it. He turns to her as they leave.

“Follow.” He whispers. Clem pauses, before rushing to AJ, lifting him in her arms the best she can. She hisses, the familiar pain of a gunshot spreading through her wound as the torn muscle is pulled. Yet, she continues. 

 

Well into the night, she follows the boy, who says little, if not nothing at all. Occasionally hissing through grit teeth at her arm, until finally the sight of a fire comes into sight.

“There.” He points at a log. Clem places him gently atop it, taking no heed of their surroundings. The boy with the walker mask reaches forward as AJ groans in pain, looking to Clem. She nods, and the boy lifts AJ’s shirt to reveal the wounds. She winces at the sight.

“Get the shrapnel out.” The boy whispers once again. Clem’s eyes go wide.

“Me?” He nods.

“I’ll keep him still.” His voice never rises above a whisper. 

True to his word, he places his hands on AJ as Clementine pulls the knife out. She, as carefully as she can, pulls out the bits of metal, AJ occasionally shouting out in pain. The boy holds him in place as he writhes.

Finally, the last piece is out.Something moves behind the boy. Too quiet to be a walker. She doesn’t bother to look.

The boy pulls out some duct tape, and rips a piece off.

“He’s just going to patch you up.” Clementine says as he tapes cloth over the wound.

“It’s enough, for now.” The boy then points to her arm. “What about that?” She shakes her head.

“I’ll be fine until I’m back at the school.” He nods, before walking to the fire. Someone else stans by it, and begins to walk over.

AJ goes to sit up, and Clem places her hands on his shoulder.

“Woah, easy there.” She says.

“Where’s our stuff at? My gun?” 

“We lost it bud.” He rubs his forehead.

“They all ran. They’re safe.” He mumbles. Clem smiles a bit.

“Hopefully.” 

AJ shivers, his fists clenching. Now that she thinks about it, it’s freezing out. She looks up, remembering the fire where the boy with the walker mask sits.

That’s when she notices the other person standing a few feet away. Instinctively, she pulls the knife AJ gave her out, standing over him protectively.

She nearly drops the knife in surprise.

“Marlon?” She gasps. The boy rubs his arm sheepishly.

“Uh. Yeah.” He points at AJ. “Let me take him to the fire.” Clem hesitates before taking a step back. She wouldn’t be able to carry him any longer. The blonde carries the boy, laying him near the fire gently. Clem sees them exchange a few words from where she remains standing by the log he previous laid. 

Marlon walks back over with a frown and a sigh.

“You probably know why I left.” He says. Clementine opens her mouth to snarkily respond before he cuts her off. “No, not to join the Delta.” She shuts her mouth. “I just… I couldn’t bare to stay there. Not with what I did to Brody, and how I’ve been to her, and everyone, really, over the years.” He shakes his head, eyes glued to the ground. “Not with how I was to you and AJ. It was fucked up. I’m seriously sorry. You don’t have to forgive me or whatever but…”

“Marlon.” Clementine says. The boy looks up from the ground. “You don’t need to leave. Hell, everyone wants you to stay.” She places a hand on his shoulder. “You just…” she hesitates. “You won’t make everything right by running away. Fuck, you’ll just cause issues doing that.” She gestures out into the trees. “That’s why we’re in this mess, actually. We were looking for you.” His eyes go wide.

“Seriously?” She nods. He sighs, putting his head in his hands. “Even gone, I’m still causing everyone problems.” 

“Look, everyone’s probably worried about us.” She starts.

“No shit.” She glares at him.

“I need to talk to this guy. Thank him for helping us. We can talk about everything when we get back to the school.” 

“You’ll be okay?” She nods.

“Yeah. Just make sure you don’t disappear into the night, or next time…” she makes a shooting gesture at him. He grimaces. “Too soon?”

“Kinda.” They both pause before chuckling.

Clementine climbs over the log, stopping herself from flinching at the whip of pain in her arm.

“I’ll stay over here until you’re ready to go.” 

She walks over to the fire, sitting besides the boy in the walker mask. He keeps watching the flames.

“I didn’t mean to endanger you. The walkers were sent to help.” He whispers. Clementine frowns a bit.

“You… sent the walkers?” 

“I was part of a group. Call themselves Whisperers. They learn to walk among herds. Live among them. Sometimes, guide them.” 

Clem looks down.

“Why aren’t you with them?”

“They attacked a community. I saw the carnage. Didn’t want to be apart of it.”

AJ groans.

“Does it hurt?” She asks him gently.

“Hungry.” She sighs. A moment passes, and the boy in the walker mask holds out an apple.

“Eat it. Both of you.” Clem looks at him, before accepting it.

“Thank you.” He nods. She gives AJ the apple, opting to let the boy eat it instead. He needs it more than she does. “Do you… have a name?” He nods.

He reaches at the back of his neck, pulling the mask off to reveal his face.

“James.”

“Why did you help us, James?”

James gets to his feet, turning his back to them.

“Those people who attacked you. What do you know about them?”

“They steal kids. They took two last year.” She says with a frown.

“A common practice for them.” He turns to face them again. “They’re at war up north. Their whole community against another.” He rubs his palms. “That’s why they take people. To train them. Use them. Make them fight.”

“That’s horrible.” Clementine murmurs. He nods.

“That’s why I helped you.” Clementine looks up at him with a soft smile.

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marlons back and more guilty than ever and if it seems rushed i promise theyll actually really talk later i just hteejgrjyjdg


	15. Chapter 15

It had been hours since Violet’s search party heard that gunshot in the woods, and came running to find Clementine being held at gunpoint. Hour since she risked her own life just to tell them all to run. Now, the sun had long since set, and was going to rise soon, and kids were growing frantic.

“Fuck, why did she tell us to run? We outnumbered them!” Aasim says, running a hand through his hair, pacing.

“They had guns. We wouldn’t have won with a bow.” Violet points out. She sits at one of the picnic tables, back facing the tabletop, and hands holding her head up.

“I just hope they’re alive. We heard a _lot_ of gunshots.” Louis says from besides her with a sigh.

“No shit.” Violet says with a frown. She lifts her head, leaning her back against the table.

This whole thing was so fucked. Why did Marlon have to run away? Fuck, this was basically his fault.

“If they don’t show up soon…” Mitch growls from the watchtower above them, besides Willy. “We’re going to have to go look for them.” 

Violet sighs, arms crossed over her chest. She’d love to go look for them, but with those two child-snatching assholes out there, with guns, nothing good would come of it.

“Oh shit!” Willy says, pointing in the direction Mitch was facing away from over the wall. He whirls around, and Violet shoots to her feet, hands hovering over her butcher’s knife. 

He releases an arrow from the bow in his hands.

“Willy!” An all too familiar voice shouts, frustrated. Violet’s eyes go wide. She races towards the gate, Louis overtaking her and throwing it open.

They’re back, all three of them.

Clementine carries AJ carefully in her arms, walking besides Marlon. Whatever, or whoever Willy had shot at seems to be wearing a mask, and was now leaving, disappearing into the woods.

Clementine topples. Marlon shouts something, trying to hold her up, catching AJ before he hits the ground. The young boy yelps, awake, yet injured. Violet races forward, hands outstretched to help. 

Her eyes go wide as she sees the blood caked onto the back of Clementine’s arm. She must have been shot.

“What the fuck happened?” She snarls at Marlon.

“I don’t fucking know!” She glares at him pointedly. “I wasn’t with them. The same guy found us, and then we left.”

Violet picks up Clementine with the help of Louis, careful not to touch the wound on her arm. They carry her into the courtyard, where Willy emerges from the dorms with Ruby. Her eyes go wide at the sight of the injured kids, and Marlon.

“Bring them to Brody’s room.” She tells them. They listen, carrying the two inside the dorms, Ruby quietly, yet quickly pulling open the door. 

Brody still sleeps in her bed, the other bed empty. They lay Clementine face first onto the empty bed, revealing her arm to Ruby.

“Christ…” Ruby mutters. Marlon gently places AJ upright in the chair at Brody’s desk. Violet can now see the holes in his shirt, wounds obvious, as blood can be seen seeping through some cloth taped to his skin.

The little boy groans, hand hovering just over it, scared to touch it. Louis frowns sympathetically, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t help, bud.”

Ruby whirls around to Marlon.

“What in the world were you thinkin’, running away like that?” She asks, fuming. 

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? We can talk about it later. Right now, we’ve gotta help them!” He nearly shouts. Ruby slaps a hand over his mouth, gesturing to the still unconscious Brody. 

“Right now, the best way to help, is for you two to leave.” She glares at Marlon, and points at Louis. “If you try any other funny business…” she says, shaking her head angrily. Marlon lifts his hands defensively.

“I won’t run off again. Don’t worry.” He says, before leaving with Louis. Ruby pinches the bridge of her nose with a frustrated sigh, before grabbing one of the clean washcloths piled on the dresser. She hands it to Violet.

”Let’s get her jacket off first.” Ruby says.

The two carefully take off her dark gray jacket. The sleeve now, understandably, has a hole ripped through it. Hopefully, they’d be able to stitch it up later. Ruby sputters wordlessly as the jacket’s removal reveals another hoodie. They remove that next, leaving her in a shirt, arm now easy to reach.

“Clean up some of the blood on her arm.” Violet grabs the cloth. “And try not to wake her up, okay?” Violet nods, turning to the sleeping girl.

She gently wipes at the blood caked on her arm. The girl flinches in her sleep, and she pauses, scared to wake her.

“What happened out there?” She hears Ruby ask AJ quietly.

“The people who took the twins were there. They want to take everyone else too.” He responds. There’s a beat of silence, before a slight rustle of movement. AJ hisses in pain quietly.

“Sorry buddy.” Ruby whispers quietly before gasping. “Jesus.”

Violet turns her head, pulling her hands and the cloth away from Clementine’s arm. Her eyes land on the wound on AJ’s stomach and she gapes.

“Fuck.” She mutters. That did _not_ look like it felt good. She internally kicks herself. Obviously it wouldn’t feel good. He got shot, dammit!

“Vi, is her arm all cleaned up?” Ruby asks with a raised eyebrow.

Violet opts not to respond, and instead turns back around, and Ruby snorts. Violet continues to wipe away the blood, until finally the point of entry for the bullet is revealed. She winces.

“Okay AJ, I’m gonna wrap this up, alright?” He doesn’t say anything. Violet guesses he nodded, unable to see him.

Ruby gets up, walking to just behind Violet to grab some bandages. 

“Christ…” she mutters as she peers over Violet’s shoulder. “That’s not gonna be fun.” Violet snorts.

“No shit.”

Violet continues to wipe at the last of the blood as Ruby patches up AJ. 

“All done!” Ruby says to AJ. “You’re not gonna be able to do much’a anything with that for a bit, so I hope you get comfortable.” Violet glances over her shoulder as Ruby speaks, patting the boy on the knee before getting up. AJ sighs, turning in the chair to look at Clem.

“Alright, let’s take a look…” Ruby mumbles as she comes over to Clem’s side. “Christ, that’s gonna be a real nightmare when she wakes up.” 

 

Ruby crouches down beside Violet, taking the rag from her hand and gently touching the wound. Clementine winces. If they weren’t careful, she could wake up. However, if they weren’t quick, it could get infected, and they’d be dealing with a lot more than a tired Clementine.

“We need to get the bullet out.” Ruby says. She looks to Violet. “I need you to hold her down.” She says. Violet nods, and Ruby stands up, grabbing a small knife, needle, and thread.

Ruby walks back to her side, and holds the knife in her hand.

“Ready?” She asks, and Violet places a hand on Clementine’s shoulder and upper arm, where she’d most likely move the most. She nods to Ruby, who swiftly gets to work.

Violet chooses to look away, instead focusing on keeping Clem still. Almost immediately she seems to be trying to get away. Violet keeps her as still as can be, and finally Ruby pulls the last bit of bullet out of the wound. She grabs the needle and thread, and gets ready to stitch it up.

“I’d be a bit more careful here, Vi.” Ruby warns. Seconds later, she stabs through skin, stitching the wound the best she could as the girl writhes against Violet’s grip.

Finally, Ruby finishes, cleaning off the last of the blood, and wrapping a bandage around the freshly stitched wound. Violet pulls her hands away, shoving them in her pockets.

“She may have to wear a sling,” Ruby starts with a sigh. “At least until the wound heals. She could’ve shattered the bone.” Violet nods.

Someone knocks on the door, before opening it. Louis.

“Uh, do you think you could come help with something, Ruby?” He asks. Ruby huffs.

“Alright. We just finished up anyway.” Louis grins.

“Meet me in the courtyard.” He says, before shutting the door. Ruby sighs again, turning to Violet.

“Thanks for the help. D’ya mind staying close by while I’m gone?” Violet nods.

“Sure. Don’t have much else to do after all.” Ruby smiles.

“Thanks.” 

With that, she leaves, the door shutting quietly behind her. Violet turns to AJ, the young boy looking up at her with bright eyes.

“Do you think Brody’s gonna wake up soon?” He asks. Violet shrugs.

“Probably. I hope she does.” The boy smiles. That was all the answer he needed. The smile fades after a few moments.

“Clementine’s been shot before.” He says, looking at the sleeping girl. Violet tilts her head.

“Really?”

“Yeah. In the shoulder. And one time in the foot when I was little.” Violet’s eyes go wide.

“Damn.” The boy giggles softly, before his hand goes down to his stomach, frowning. “You okay?” She asks him. He shrugs.

“Ruby said I’ll be fine so I guess, yes.” Violet frowns.

“Yeah, but it hurts, right? Do you need to like, lay down or something?” She asks. He thinks for a minute.

“It does, but…” he trails off.

“You don’t want to leave Clem?” She guesses. He shrugs. She hums. An idea hits her. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Violet walks out of the room, and into her own just beside Brody’s. The other bed had been stripped of blankets when Brody had moved out, but she brought back the blankets from the other room. She balls them up, cold from the lack of use over the past few years, and carries them back to Brody’s room.

She throws them haphazardly on the floor, and AJ’s eyes go wide.

“Here, you can use these, if you want to lay on the ground.” She offers. 

“Really?” She nods. The boy gets off of the chair, and nearly drops himself onto the blankets. 

She takes the chair he had been sitting in, and smiles a bit. A few minutes pass, and Violet starts to feel the lack of sleep catch up to her again.

“Thanks, Violet.” AJ says quietly below her. “I think you’re really nice, even though Marlon said you were…” he trails off, face scrunched up.

“Difficult?”

“Yeah, that.” Violet grins.

“Thanks, AJ. You’re pretty cool yourself.” The boy doesn’t respond. A quick glance tells her he’s fallen asleep.

Violet leans back against the wooden chair. Within a few minutes, sleep overtakes her as well, and all worries are forgotten temporarily.


	16. Chapter 16

When Clementine wakes up, she has no idea how long it’s been since she collapsed in front of the gate. What she does know, however, is that she has no idea where she is.

Disoriented, she goes to lift herself up and look around, before a burning pain spreads throughout her arm. She gasps in surprise and pain, dropping herself back onto the bed face first. 

“Clem!” A familiar voice whispers in surprise at her side. Clem turns her head, choosing not to try and lift herself up again. Her eyes widen.

“Brody, you’re awake!” She exclaims rather loudly. Brody brings a finger to her own lips, shushing her. Clem tilts her head, and the other girl points across the room.

She adjusts herself the best she can, before smiling. Violet sits in the chair at the desk, head lolled back, drooling slightly, while AJ sleeps in a pile of blankets, arms wrapped around Violet’s legs and using her feet as a pillow. Clem looks back to Brody who sighs.

Now, Clementine notices that her jacket and hoodie are on the ground next to the bed. She feels strange, having her arms bare, practically showing off the scars littering them. The brand from the New Frontier, the dog bite, various little ones scattered around.

“What happened while I was out?” She asks, brows furrowed with worry. Clem frowns. “I saw that you got hurt.”

“Marlon ran off, and we went looking for him. We ran into that asshole from the train station, and that bitch Lilly.” Her voice is laced with venom. “Trying to get away, they shot me an AJ both.” Brody gasps.

“What the fuck?” She whispers. “God that’s… that’s so fucked up.” She shakes her head.

“Yeah.” Clementine responds with a humorless chuckle. “So, you’re okay, right? Marlon hit you damn hard. You couldn’t see anything before you passed out.” Brody frowns.

“I… I don’t remember what happened exactly.” She hesitates. “I can still see, but…” she trails off a bit before continuing. “There’s a chunk in my vision. I can’t see anything in that area.” Clem’s eyes widen.

“Seriously?” Brody nods. Clem looks away sadly. “I’m so sorry, Brody.” She says softly. Brody smiles a bit.

“If anything, I should be the sorry one.” Clem looks at her with confusion. “You didn’t know he was going to do that, and I said some awful stuff that night. I feel terrible, Clementine.” Clem shakes her head to the best of her ability.

“Brody, it’s fine. People have said worse, and you weren’t thinking. Honestly, I’m just glad you’re awake, and…” she raises an eyebrow at herself. “Generally okay.” Brody giggles a bit.

“Thanks, Clementine.”

Suddenly, the door swings open, revealing a certain hot-headed red-head comes over.

“Brody, you’re awake!” She glances at Clem. “And Clementine! Wait,” she glares. “You’re supposed to be asleep!” She spins around, slapping a sleeping Violet on the leg. 

The blonde jolts awake instantly, eyes wide, hand going for her belt, reaching for a knife that isn’t there. AJ stays with his grip firmly on her feet.

“Holy shit,” she gasps in surprise. Ruby only glares.

“You were supposed to be watching them!” Violet huffs.

“You were gone for hours! I thought you would’ve been back by now.” She argues. Ruby sighs, placing her hands on her hips, and turning around.

“Alright, that’s fair.” She walks over to Brody’s bed. “I’m sure everyone else will be glad to see you’re awake. Is anything wrong? Head hurting, leg buggin’ ya?” She asks.

“Uh… Yeah, my leg hurts a bit but that’s to be expected with stitches, and also my head but I _did_ get slammed into a hunk’a metal.” She pauses. “Also, my eyes are like, messed up.” She says nervously Ruby’s eyes widen.

“How so?” 

“There’s like, a chunk out of the side that’s just, dark. I can’t see a single thing up there.” Ruby frowns.

“Well, damn.” She frowns, rubbing her chin. “I’m… not sure how we can fix that. Do you think you’ll be fine doin’ stuff, still?” Brody nods.

“Yes, It’s just a corner. I can still see fine in other spots.” She assures with a smile.

“Well, then that’s just fine. I’m gonna have to keep you in here for a few more days, just in case.” She turns to Clementine. “And what about you? You doin’ alright?” Clem shrugs.

“I’m fine right here.” Ruby raises an eyebrow.

“An’ what’s that supposed to mean?” Clem grimaces.

“I can’t get up…”

“Then you’re probably gonna have to stay in here for a bit before it heals.”

“I hope you’re comfortable, because I doubt you’re going to be able to do much with that arm.” Violet cuts in. Clementine glares at her without malice. She only grins in response.

“Hey, at least you’ll have me for company!” Brody says cheerfully. Clementine smiles a bit in her direction.

The smile soon fades however. Ruby checks over their wounds, informing Clementine she’d been asleep for about a day, among other random things about their injuries. Brody wouldn’t be allowed to walk for another day, to give her leg another day to heal. 

Ruby shuts the door behind her, likely going to tell everyone they were awake, leaving the other three girls, plus AJ, in the room.

The young boy hadn’t seemed bothered by all the talking going on around him. Clementine wasn’t surprised. Suddenly, something hits her.

“Shit, how’s he doing?” She asks Violet. 

“He’s fine, really. Ruby patched him up, and then he passed out.” She looks down at the boy holding her legs. “Kid has a strong grip.” Clementine chuckles.

“Yeah, he’s always had that.”

About a minute passes, before Brody speaks up.

“Where did AJ come from, if you don’t mind my asking?” Clementine stops and thinks for a moment.

“I traveled with his parents in a group for a little while. Some terrible shit happened, some of the worst I’ve seen yet. His dad died about a day before he was born, and his mother the day after. Hypothermia, or something like that.” Then, barely louder than a whisper. “He was taken from me at some point. He was about 4. It was so soon after…” she clenches her fist. “After the man taking care of us died. I got him back though.” She grows intense. “Nothing’s ever kept me from him for long.” 

The other girls are silent, before Violet lets out a low whistle.

“Damn.” Clementine chuckles, grinning a bit. 

“What about you two? Any interesting stories?” She asks, curious about the life the schoolkids had before she and AJ came along. The two think for a bit, before Brody clicks her tongue.

“Oh, one time, before Marlon got super protective, some kids got into the old science building.” She starts. Violet almost instantly starts chuckling.

“God, they were idiots. Who was it again?” Brody raises an eyebrow.

“Who do you think?” Violet pauses, thinking, before groaning. 

“God, it was Mitch wasn’t it?” Brody nods vigorously. “Of course it was.” Brody turns back to Clementine.

“Anyway, he nearly gassed the place while trying to mix chemicals.” She stops to tap her finger against her chin. “Actually, I wonder what he was trying to do…” she shrugs. “Whatever, it was probably dumb anyways.”

Clementine smiles a bit. The school was so… nice. Peaceful. Not literally, seeing as the threat of the Delta, starvation, and the everyday walkers always loomed over, and what happened nearly two days ago had happened. No, it was peaceful in that all the kids, despite how they act to one another, and their cruel words targeted at each other, they’re family. 

In most of the previous groups she had been in before if anyone had so much have muttered half the things she had heard on the daily basis here at Ericson’s, guns would’ve been drawn a lot more often. She can’t help but wonder if it’s because they’re all kids. She had joked about the place being adult free being great when she had arrived, sure, but maybe that would stand true.

Clementine yawns.

“You’d really think that after sleeping a whole day I’d want to sleep _less_.” She jokes. Violet shrugs.

“I dunno, the past few days have been intense.” She hesitates between words. “I don’t know about you, but I know that I haven’t slept much.” 

“Yeah, I guess that does makes sense.” 

Clementine sighs. This position on the bed is already getting on her nerves. She should be up and about, moving, not laying around!

She looks at her arm. She could _probably_ roll onto her back if she put the pressure onto her other arm. She goes to try, before Violet’s voice cuts in.

“I probably wouldn’t do that if I were you.” She points at the arm. “Once you’re up or over or whatever, you won’t have anywhere to put your arm other than down.” Clem shrugs.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve been shot.” 

“Seriously?” Brody asks with wide eyes. Clem nods.

“Yeah, I was about 11.” She lifts her right arm to her shoulder the best she can. “Shot me right in the shoulder.” 

“Jesus, why would they shoot a kid?” 

“They weren’t the only ones with a gun.” 

Brody falls silent, only nodding. They fall into a nice quiet for the next few minutes, before Brody giggles quietly. She points back over to Violet, who has passed out once more.

“I think I may just copy her.” Clementine jokes.

“Well, alright then. Goodnight, Clementine.” She smiles a bit. Clem returns it kindly.

“Night, Brody.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [EDIT 5/31] so sorry for the current delays! The past week or two have been pretty hectic with exams and all that! School is over for me in about 3 or 4 days, and by then i should have chapter 17 up!  
> [EDIT 6/5] guess whos computer shut down and forgot to save the next chapter before it happened *peace signs*


	17. Chapter 17

It’s been three days since the shit with Marlon. Clementine is glad to finally be able to get up and walk around the school without Ruby breathing down her neck. 

Currently, Clem finds herself leaving Brody’s room. The other girl had finally been allowed to stand up and walk around the day before, but Ruby was too worried about something being wrong with her head. Clementine doesn’t blame her, really. Her head quite literally left a dent in the boiler, after all.

Brody has been growing noticeably distant. That much is evident to Clem, and by Violet’s worried expression when she often visits, Clem wasn’t the only one who had noticed. The girl was trailing off during the conversation, and when not talking, she was often staring off into space.

Unfortunately, Clementine doesn’t feel it’s her business to ask. She’s already encroached on her space by taking up her room, and the two of them have been locked in there until Ruby finally let Clementine out.

She sighs as she walks down the hall. 

Right now, Marlon is waiting in his new room, just beside Louis’. He’s been waiting for someone, anyone to tell him what would be done with him. Not one visit had been made by him, with good reason, during the past few days. Violet told her he tried, but everyone chased him off and into his room. Since then, he was simply… waiting.

Clementine walks outside of the dorm room, and into the courtyard, before making her way towards the admin building, where Violet is most likely to be.

Violet has practically stepped into Marlon’s shoes as leader of the group. Marlon had spent all those years as the sole leader, standing as an impenetrable wall, standing tall to protect his people. Unfortunately, somewhere that wall eventually cracked, before crumbling.

This time, however, Clem is going to prevent that from happening. A wall, when left to defend against unending forces alone, will, in time, topple. This time, the wall will have people to protect it. Someone to help it. 

Clementine climbs up the stairs steadily, the building quiet without Louis playing the piano downstairs. The boy came to visit them yesterday, yet had been uncharacteristically quiet. It left Clem feeling worried. 

She knocks on the closed door to the headmaster’s old office, a quiet, familiar voice calling out from inside.

“Come in.” Clementine pushes the heavy door open, stepping inside. Violet is standing over the desk, hands placed on the top as she looks at the map. “Oh, Clementine.” The girl offers a small, somewhat relieved smile as she looks up at her visitor. “I… I honestly don’t know how Marlon managed this for so long.” She says after a long pause, frowning at the paper in front of her.

“However he did, might not be the way to go about it, seeing how he ended up.” Clementine says. Violet chuckles.

“I guess you’re right.” She points to an open notebook to her side, the pages dirty. “He kept records of basically everything, which is a plus.” 

The two go quiet for a moment, maybe two. Clementine looks at the upside down map, following the lines drawn over it. Violet breaks the silence.

“I know it’s been a few days but…” the girl clenches her fists on the desk. “Shit.” She mutters. “When I saw you pinned in the woods, I, shit, I got so crazy. When I heard the gunshots I didn’t even think.” Violet crosses her arms, looking down at the desk. “I wanted to help. So badly I wanted to let that arrow fly and to just help you. But you told us to run, and I had to trust you.” She hesitates for a moment, before looking back up to meet Clementine’s eyes. “I… thank you. For protecting us. It was really brave.” She offers a small smile, which Clementine returns in full. 

The conversation would seem to reach its end. Clementine prepares to speak, before she notices Violet’s jaw clenched, and fists still balled up. She raises a worried eyebrow.

“Violet…” she starts. The girl looks back towards her. “What’s wrong?” Violet frowns a bit, before sighing.

“I just…” she stops, thinking. “I wish I could’ve done something. Something to help.” 

“But you did. We all made it out safe.” Clementine reassures.

“You and AJ got shot, Clementine.” She furrows her brows. “You got lucky this time, but if something like that happens again, that luck might not stick around."

Clementine has to stop, unsure of how to respond. Had Violet been worrying about this the entire time? Clementine had hardly even thought about it at all.

“Well, I know that I appreciate it. Everyone made it out alive, and that’s good enough for me.” She offers Violet a small smile. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.” Violet shrugs.

“I guess. I know I shouldn’t feel bad about it, but I just can’t help it, y’know?” Clementine nods.

“I get it.” Violet’s mouth upturns in a small smile. She turns back down to the map, pointing at the school. "I can't help but be curious though..." She trails off for a moment, before looking over to Clem again. "You seemed to recognize that woman in the woods." Clem's expression morphs into a grimace.

"Lilly." Violet nods.

"So you do know her." 

"Yeah. It's been years, hell, I hardly remember her, honestly." she pauses. "She was in the first group I was in, when this all started. Her and her dad." She looks to the floor. "Her dad was this racist asshole. She defended whatever he did." She sighs. "I watched him die." Violet raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah?" Clem snorts.

"Yeah. An old friend dropped a salt lick on his head after he had a heart attack in a meat cooler." Violet's eyes go wide.

"Damn. That sounds like an... interesting, but horrifying story." Clementine shrugs.

"I guess so."

The two go quiet. The silence isn't awkward, not too long, nor too short. 

"Um, what about that guy who showed up with you and Marlon? Willy said he was wearing like, a mask made of walker skin or something?"

"James. He's not bad, he helped Marlon, and then me with AJ." Violet arches an eyebrow.

"I'll take your word for it."

Silence, again. Violet sits down in Marlon's chair, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. Clementine places her hands on her hips, facing the balcony. "What are we going to do about those raiders?" Violet suddenly asks. Clementine's eyes widen, turning to face her. "They know we're out here."  
Clementine furrows her brow, and taps her chin. From what it sounded like, there may be a lot of them.

"From how it seems, they're going to return with more people, and weapons. Going to try and take us with force." Violet's eyes widen. "But, just look at this place. It's a damn fortress. If we work hard enough, we can make them realize they're messing with the wrong kids."

Violet grins. "I like the sound of that." 

"Good." Clementine steps forward, looking over the map. "Now, we just need to work on making this place impenetrable."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TA DA. FINALLY. so sorry abt that wait! yesterday was my last day, and practically every day leading up to it (including the day itself) had at least one exam for me. but now, im done! however, my computer had an unexpected shut down, and i forgot to save my document. and, unfortunately, i use wordpad, not google docs, for some reason, so, no autosaving! yippee.... however, i should start to save things now, and updates will be back to nearly one a day. this ones shorter than the last few, but dont worry, things should start getting longer and more interesting with the major changes (marlon n brody bein alive, n all that!) taking place, and dialogue will be.... not the exact same as the game. 
> 
> ps. i watch detective pikachu today. it was pretty good


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, so sorry for the wait! theres a little extra added to the end notes as a sort of apology!

The next few days pass Violet like trees from a fast car. Marlon finally received his sentence. It wasn't anything too bad, really. Clementine and her and decided to have him help clear out the greenhouse, and do the chores no one wants to do. Really, Violet thinks he's getting off easy for what he did to the twins and Brody. 

For now, the watchtower was a nice spot to sit and mull things over. Staring off into the still woods, a soft, gentle breeze cutting through the air. The courtyard just behind her isn't silent, but the sound isn't extreme. AJ is talking loudly besides Tenn, the two of them drawing at a table. Omar is preparing lunch, occasionally exchanging words with Aasim who is sitting nearby. Louis, who seems to have brightened up since the shit with Marlon happened, cracks shitty jokes at an increasingly annoyed Mitch. 

Violet continues staring into the woods, elbows resting on her knees, hands holding her head up. There were many things you could describe watch as. Useful, safety-providing, are a couple of good ones. Just as accurate, however, was boring. Violet would rather be down on ground level, listening to Louis for the hours she has so spend up on the rickety tower. That was definitely saying something, seeing as there were a lot of things she would prefer over listening to Louis talk non-stop for two hours.

She blows on a bit of hair that falls into her face, tickling her nose, then sighs. The past few days were something, alright. Marlon was finally released from the unofficial prison that was Louis' room. Brody was finally allowed to leave her room. The whole situation with her has been sort of frightening Violet. 

The girl was understandably excited to be freed from her bedridden state by Ruby, but has generally been avoiding everyone. The girl was usually so social and talkative. Physically, aside from the chunk of black in her sight she offhandedly mentioned, she seemed fine, at least. Beyond how Brody was feeling, Violet herself isn't sure how to feel herself. 

She finally got over the twins being gone, and was _so_ close to repairing the friendship that Violet had ruined by being such an asshole, and now there's a chance that the twins are still alive, and that Brody knew it the whole time. Violet sighs again. She can't blame Brody. She _knows_ she can't blame her. She had obviously been threatened, or something, by Marlon, and she had been scared. But all the same, Violet is upset that the girl didn't trust her to tell her, and instead kept up the lies for that whole year, acting as if nothing happened besides a simple hunting trip gone wrong. 

So lost in thought, and watching a single, lone walker slowly walk through the trees, Violet hadn't noticed the person climbing up the ladder to the tower. She jolts with a start as a hand is placed on her shoulder, whipping her head to face the offending person. She relaxes as she realizes who it is, a small smile taking over her face.

"That walker do anything interesting?" The very girl taking over Violet's thoughts asks with a small smile, pointing into the trees at the walker that she had been watching as it retreats deeper into the woods. Violet shakes her head. 

"Sadly, the walkers have not started doing flips." Brody clicks her tongue, sitting down in the other chair across from Violet. 

"Disappointing." The two fall into a quiet just as soon as it had been broken. 

Honestly, Violet is surprised the girl came and initiated conversation. The two hadn't had a one-on-one conversation that was longer than five minutes in... a good while, really. That, mixed with Brody's recent antisocial behavior certainly is giving Violet a strong case of violent whiplash.  
"So... How are you doing?" Violet immediately internally winces at that her own question. That was... not phrased right. "Like, how are you doing with all the shit going on?" She quickly adds.  
Brody waits a moment, not meeting Violet's eyes as she watches over the wall. "I mean, pretty good, I like to think." She says, turning to Violet with a smile. 

Violet arches an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. "Bullshit. Brody, something's bothering you. I'm worried about you, and I'm sure everyone else is too." 

Brody worries her lower lip, shrugging.

"I mean, I'm not doing _terrible_..." She says with a sigh. "I just, I feel so awful, Vi, about the twins, and the lying. I could've said something, but I was so scared that... that Marlon would do something. Something worse than what he already did, I mean." she ends with a dry chuckle.  
Violet remains silent for a short time, before she looks up at the girl, her soft expression not leaving her face.

"Brody, I don't blame you for the twins. Hell, I don't think I ever really did." She hesitates. "Sure, I can't lie, I am a little ticked off you didn't say anything the whole year, but it made sense. I can't be mad at you. I don't really think anyone really is. That, and I know that losing the twins hit you just as hard as it hit me." Brody looks away, and Violet taps on her shoulder. "Hey, it's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna work out okay."

Brody looks back up at her with a smile. "Thanks Violet. That definitely makes me feel a bit better." The blond nods.

"How's your head, or whatever? I mean, getting thrown around like that can't be good for your brain." Violet asks in a joking, yet gentle tone. She doesn't want to say anything wrong, and fuck up their messily repaired friendship. Especially not when the girl already seems to down in the dumps.

"It definitely aches a bit, but not as bad as when I first woke up." She smiles, a hand going up to the back of her head. Her face falls. "I don't know if you heard when I told Ruby, but..." She pauses. "There's this like, little part in my vision, right in the corner of both eyes where I just... Can't see anything." 

Violet's eyes widen. "Well, shit."

Brody shakes her head frantically. "It isn't super bad, and I can still see fine otherwise. I just... Hope it doesn't get worse."

"Has it been?" Brody tilts her head.

"What?"

"Been getting worse, I mean. Like, over the past few days?"

The girl shrugs. "It doesn't _seem_ like it has been."

Violet nods, and the two go quiet again, just looking out at a walker that only just emerged from the forest.

The talk is certainly a reassuring change in point of view for Violet. Of course, Brody's vision is definitely something to worry about. Fortunately, the girl doesn't seem too bothered, and unless it gets worse, won't be a major problem in the future. 

"Violet." the blonde looks up at the now standing Brody. "Thanks for the chat. I definitely feel a little better knowing you aren't upset. I think I'm gonna head inside again for a bit." 

"Be careful." Violet says without thinking, and the other girl arches an eyebrow.

"Of what? A loose rock? It's not like I'm jumping off the wall." She says with a snort. 

Violet scoffs with no anger. "Whatever." Brody just grins, before descending the ladder and walking across the courtyard to the admin building.

Once again, Violet is alone in the watchtower. Of course, it wasn't unusual to be alone on watch, but it didn't make it any more disappointing when the rare visitor left.

Now that Violet's nerves have been settled in the case of Brody, little is left to plague her mind besides waiting for the Delta's attack, and... Clementine. Violet frowns at herself, clutching the bow that was previously rested on the ground tightly. She doesn't want to think about Clementine. 

The girl, quite literally, crashed into their lives, mostly for the better. She arrived like... some kind of damn guardian angel to save them from the Delta, or something. Sure, she flipped their entire lives upside down. Never in a million years would Violet think that she'd be the technical leader of the school, yet here she was. The change is probably for the better, given the path that Marlon had been going down.

Violet leans against the low wall of the watchtower, elbow propping her head up once again. Clementine is smart, and experienced in life outside of the walls. That, added onto the fact that she was generally friendly and funny... It certainly didn't help that she was pretty damn... well, pretty. 

Violet kicks herself internally. She knows how she feels about Clementine, but she won't admit it, even to herself in her own head. The last time she let herself accept it, her girlfriend ended up as a child soldier. So, like, fuck that.

For what is probably the hundredth time that day, and the billionth time in her life, Violet sighs. Left alone on watch leads Violet into her own brain, one of the last places she'd like to be. It leads her down thought paths from brutal ways literally everything could go wrong, to how she feels like the main character in some shitty Disney channel, straight to tv movie.

She frowns at herself as she peers into the woods. Truthfully, despite how much she previously was declining leaving herself to her own devices for watch, there is nothing Violet wants right now more than to be left alone to curl into a ball and die.

"Hey, Violet!" A voice calls from at the bottom of the ladder. _Shit_ she internally curses. She glances over the edge of the watchtower. _Double shit_ she adds onto her own thoughts. Clementine stands below her, clearly ready to climb up. She offers little more than a small smile, and that alone is welcome enough for the other girl to start ascending the ladder.

Violet regrets all 8 or so years of surviving leading up to right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! im real sorry about that wait! i decided to take a little break, and when i finally finished that break like, two days ago i absolutely could not, for the life of me, find what i had already written for this chapter, and had to completely rewrite whatever it was i was planning already. it was annoying! its 4:30 in the morning, but hey! schools out so it doesnt really matter. ANYWAYS.
> 
> so to sort of kind of apologize, i drew a map (technically two, the lower and upper floors) of ericsons in this fic! we dont actually have much info about the school beyond what little we see, so i took some liberties... a lot of liberties, and basically made it however i wanted. if anything seems confusing, please ask! the classrooms are specified for no reason in particular, i just felt like it, and if the link isnt working, just ask!  
> [the maps!](https://ibb.co/album/eJ13mF)
> 
> Also! Even thought i havent been responding to the comments the past few chapters, i hope you guys know i definitely have looked at them, and i really appreciate the little bits of feedback!


	19. Chapter 19

Clementine finds herself sitting in the watchtower with Violet, looking out into the woods. She had only joined the other girl on a whim, little thought going into her actions as she had quickly crossed the yard and decided to join the blonde as she frowned over the wall, as if she were expecting the walkers to drop dead at a dirty look. Violet seems kind of lost in thought. Not quite as clearly as Brody had been in the room, but enough so that it was easily noticeable. 

Clementine has no problems sitting in silence. She doesn't have watch for another few hours, and when she did it's to be late into the night. Until then, she doesn't have much to do besides talk to people, and who better to talk to than Violet? Even if they aren't exactly talking, that is. After several years of quiet with AJ, what with them constantly on the move. The two of them rarely were in a place safe enough to talk loudly and comfortably.

The school is a welcome, wonderful change of pace compared to the road. With high, strong walls that could probably last another hundred years at least, and people that are strong and smart enough to keep it safe, it was already beginning to feel like a home. 

Clementine clenches her fist at her own thoughts. She would protect the school from the Delta. She won't sit idly as another community was ripped to shreds, be it by bad leadership, or an enemy group. In the past she had been much younger, but this time, Clem is roughly the same age as most of the kids here, and they'd all have to pitch in. No more sitting off on the sidelines. Hell, maybe if, no, _when_ they succeed at protecting the school, Clementine would be able to go pay Javier a visit. Sure, it's an unlikely fantasy, but something nice to imagine nonetheless.

Violet shifts in the seat across from Clem. She looks over at the blonde who continues to watch the woods, before her eyes run across the courtyard. She's glad to see that AJ is happy, acting how a kid should be able to with Tenn. Louis is busy being his rambunctious self, and everyone else seems to be doing their own things. Personally, Clementine can't wait for Omar to finish making lunch. 

Before showing up at the school, it had been years since she had anything that wasn't from a can that was nearing its expiration date, or cooked over a fire and eaten plain. Sure, there isn't much room for complaining about food, given the situation, but everyone gets sick of eating the same things constantly. Omar's cooking is a damn godsend.

"So, um, did you have anything you wanted to talk about?" Violet asks abruptly. Clementine looks up, surprised by the sudden question, before arching an eyebrow.

"What, is my company alone not enough?" She jokes.

Violet's eyes widen before she shakes her head. "Nope, sorry. The socializing department is closed. Business Violet only." She says jokingly. Clementine chuckles.

"Well darn, that's too bad." She says with a faux-disappointed voice. She looks back up with a slight smile. "But to answer your question, not really." Violet just nods.

The two go quiet. Clementine looks out into the woods. 

Any day now, the Delta could decide to attack. It wouldn't be hard to find the school if they really looked, and the raiders already knew they were out there. Plus, it would be kind of hard to miss the massive fortress of a school. Hell, the place had the vast majority of it closed off, and it's already damn confusing as it is.

"Is everything alright with Brody?" Clementine decides to ask. Violet looks over, and shrugs a bit. 

"She says she's doing okay. I call bullshit on that. I think having to deal with Marlon breathing down her neck for a year, and the guilt about the twins themselves is taking a toll on her." She hesitates. "That, and nearly getting concussed." She adds to the end.

Clementine sighs, leaning back in the chair. "This whole thing just...." She trails off.

"Sucks." Violet finishes the sentence in a sigh. Clementine nods.

"Yeah."

The next silence is a short one. Clementine finds herself staring at a dead walker getting picked at by birds when Violet interrupts her impromptu nature documentary.

"So what do you think of the school?" Clementine looks up and shrugs. "Compared to what little we've heard about your life on the road, this seems a bit... less sad and dramatic."

Clementine snorts. "In the sad section, sure, this place is anything but sad. Dramatic on the other hand..." She shakes her head at herself. "This place is pretty dang dramatic. I was only here for like, two days and the leadership was overthrown, I met someone I haven't seen in years, and got shot." She says with a laugh. 

There's little humor in the situation, or what she's saying. Heck, there's little humor in her own laugh. Perhaps, it's the situation provides some sort of sick, sad irony. The only safe place she's been in so long, and it's more dangerous to stay than to leave. That wasn't even an option to her, however. The thought of abandoning the school, abandoning Violet, Tenn, Louis, Brody, and everyone else to defend their home on their own hadn't even struck her mind.

Violet chuckles, shaking her head. "I swear, it's a lot less chaotic when the threat of becoming child soldiers isn't looming overhead. The biggest threat is usually someone tripping on a particularly sharp rock, or missing a rabbit while hunting."

Clementine nods, smile lingering on her face. She leans back in her chair again, looking up at the sky. 

She looks back over to Violet, who's gaze is firmly placed on the bow in her hands. "Violet," she starts, "I want to make sure that what happened to Marlon, doesn't happen to you." Violet furrows her brow. "If dealing with everything starts to wear down on you too much, there's no shame in asking for help."

Violet stammers a bit, seemingly unsure of what to say. "I mean, I appreciate it, but you don't really have to-" 

"No, but I want to. I want to make sure you'll be okay. You've been doing great already, and if you ever need help, I'm here for you." She interrupts with a genuine smile. Violet, rubs the back of her neck, looking away, before meeting Clementine's eyes.

"Thanks, Clementine. I won't forget that."

Clementine is pretty sure that she isn't lying about that. She's also certain that her heart skips a beat. But all the same, she continues smiling all the same as she looks through the trees at the crows that pick at a rotting walker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bit short! sorry!   
> also sometime in the next few days im gonna be going to my mothers house and theres no computer there, and i absolutely cannot write on my phone unless the internets off because i am REALLY easily distracted so there maaaay be another short break. hopefully tho, i may be able to write a few chapters in advance!  
> another thing: the next few chapters are gonna be a little different. i dunno if i actually said it, or if i did and yall recall, but i mentioned giving the background kids some time to shine... (:


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so starts the sort of.... kind of an intermission? this chapter, and the next few, are gonna be sort of little "slice of life" chapters that show what characters like omar, ruby, mitch, and aasim do when theyre not around, particularly during the wait for the delta! if you don't want to read them, and would prefer to just... not? thats fine! i can easily add onto end notes anything that will be like. super important to the story. these are just to sort of add characterization to the "background" kids! (also im not including all of them like willy or tenn, because i think a like. a 6 chapter break from the main story is a little bit excessive. but dont worry! everyone will get there chance in the spotlight!)

Omar is not a very social person. Sure, he's part of the group, and everyone at the school he would consider a friend. Despite this, he typically stays in the sidelines, or off doing his own thing. Not that this upsets or saddens him. Honestly, he prefers to be left alone most of the time. This doesn't mean that he hates talking to others, of course, he just... doesn't mind being on his own. 

Outside of cooking for everyone, Omar often finds himself on his own, with nothing productive to do. Marlon never quite let him out hunting or fishing, as he was too scared to lose the only person who could cook anything that tasted half-decent. Unfortunately, while this sentiment likely wouldn't be passed onto Violet and Clementine, it likely hadn't sticken their minds. Understandably so, given their current circumstances. He isn't planning on bringing it up. He appreciates the safety of remaining in the walls, but that doesn't mean it doesn't get boring. 

The greenhouse had been cleared out by Ruby, Mitch, and Marlon just two days ago, and dealing with the plants provides something for him to do for maybe an hour each day. With more than half the school boarded up, Omar finds himself searching for things to do. Despite the fact that Marlon made it very clear that he didn't want anyone disregarding any of the blockades in the halls and in doorways, Omar quite frankly didn't care. 

Once he had read all of the books of interest in the area Marlon deemed safe for them all to go, Omar took to the blocked off dorms. Omar's room is fortunately just beside the massive pile of furniture and trash blocking off four of the dorm rooms, allowing him generally easy access to the abandoned rooms. 

They had only been blocked off because no one was using them, and claimed it was because someone they knew turned in one of them, or something. One day, Omar grew very bored, and curious, and grabbed a knife, and snuck into the rooms. Finding nothing but the abandoned rooms, no one, dead or alive, having touched them in years, they quickly became a place for Omar to relax. Of course, he has his own room, but these ones had different books and things to do. Sure, he could easily take these things to his own room, but it just felt... wrong.

Taking personal things out of the rooms of people he once knew sets a bad taste in Omar's mouth. It being Omar, a bad taste is unacceptable. Taking from these rooms for personal benefit would be as if he were stealing from a grave, seeing as the people that once inhabited them were never properly laid to rest. 

The rooms are like a quiet grave, set apart from the rest of the world, untouched by no one or nothing, save for the occasional visitor.

Today, Omar sits on one of the unused beds, reading a surprisingly unruined book about... caring for goldfish? He shuts the book. Why was he reading that? He never had a pet fish growing up, and seeing the world they live in, likely never will. Why did this person even have this book? 

He sets it down on the bed besides him, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. Everyone had eaten lunch about 20 minutes before, and that began Omar's hour or two search for things to do until he needed to start preparing dinner. 

The room he sits in is nearly devoid of decoration, save for an aging, childish painting of a little white dog on the wall, and a vase with a plastic flower. There is a small bookcase with a solved rubix cube, three other books, and a toy dinosaur. 

Omar had solved the rubix cube about a year ago, after several days worth of breaks over the course of two months. Just below surviving 8 years of the apocalypse, and making the same two-to-three types of food taste good for that time, it was one of his greatest achievements. 

Omar grabs the toy dinosaur, looking at it curiously. Tenn might enjoy having it. There wasn't much for the younger kids to play with, and it wasn't often anyone left far enough away from the school to stumble upon any. Sure, there are probably tons of confiscated items in some teacher's classrooms, but of course, the entire actual education wing was blocked off. All the classrooms, the library, the gym, and the cafeteria are completely off limits. 

Omar really considers asking if they could all go and clear out those areas, and fix up the areas where the walkers got in. That would give all of them way more space, and give Omar more things to do. That, and surely there are plenty of cool things to find. 

In the meantime, Omar just has to make do with what little is already safe. One of the things that he most looks forward to, if they are to clear out the school, is the library. That sentiment is certainly shared with Aasim, who rarely was found in the school without his face between some pages. 

Omar grabs the rubix cube off of the shelf. Is he going to scramble it up again, and subject himself to more hours of tedious torture? To endlessly bother himself with the piece of plastic in his palm, all because he can't allow himself to leave it unsolved?

He sets the rubix cube back down. Nope.

Instead, he grabs one of the books. This one is called _Avian Revelation_. If he can remember correctly, avian is something to do with birds. It seems that whoever this room used to belong to _really_ liked animals. Of course, he could never be truly sure without looking through their personal belongings.

In each of the four rooms, he quickly gathered everything up that seemed to personal, and shoved it under the beds. While he felt no wrong reading books, and doing puzzles, the same could not be said about reading diaries, and searching through photos and electronics that people snuck in against the school's policies.

Omar reads the back cover of the book. It seems to not have much to do with birds at all, at a glance. Mostly something about some guy and... space? He isn't too sure. 

He turns his arm over, and looks at the back of his wrist, unsurprised to find nothing more than the back of his wrist itself. He sighs, resting the book on his lap. It had been years since his watch functioned properly, or even any of the clocks in the accessible parts of the school. He never wore it, either. Instead, everyone always has to simply guess the time, or just look at where the sun is, which is never very accurate. 

This time around, Omar looks out the window. The sun seems to have moved a much greater distance than it seemed. He gets to his feet with a slight frown, grabbing the toy dinosaur from the shelf, and exits the room, shutting the door gently behind him.

Climbing over the small barricade isn't difficult, a slight path made by scooting a bedside table to the side from where it sits on the couch. He simple pulls himself over the back of the couch, and is on the other side. 

He exits the hallway, and into the courtyard, unsurprised to see Tenn sitting at one of the tables with AJ, one of the two quickly accepted newcomers. 

Omar walks over to the two, heeding no mind to the others sitting around the courtyard, and stops as Tennessee's side.

"Oh, Omar. Hi." He says quietly. "Is something wrong?" The boys voice is gentle. It always is. It's a nice contrast to the others' generally loud demeanor. The only other person who comes close to being as quiet as Tenn is Violet, and she seems to be talking quite a lot more the past few days.

"No," Omar starts, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out the dinosaur. "I found this. I thought you might like to have it." 

Tenn's eyes go wide, before a smile overtakes his face. "Thanks, Omar. I appreciate it."  
"Anytime." Omar responds with a small smile and a nod. "I should probably start getting ready to prepare dinner. I'm glad you enjoy it." Tenn nods.

"Okay, thank you again." And with that, Omar turns around, and begins his walk towards the cooking pot. Behind him he can hear Tenn talking to AJ about different types of dinosaurs, and the smile lingers on Omar's face.

Omar is not a very social person. That doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy making others happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the book avian revelation is. not a real book i just used a fake book title generator afjkhsdjkfj


	21. Chapter 21

Ruby doesn't particularly pride herself on her patience, what little of it she has. It's a well known fact to everyone at the school that she has the patience of a hungry alligator. Clementine's first impression of her was of her practically spitting snakes at the poor girl.

Unfortunately, all of Ruby's patience for the week has been drained out. With Marlon coming clean about the twins, running off, everyone getting shot and hurt in various ways, and then complaining when they can't leave the rooms, Ruby is being stretched very thin. However, it seems that everything has been calming down. Now that she's finally let the other two girls out of Brody's room, AJ is fairly healed up, and she helped Mitch and Marlon clear out the greenhouse, things have been a lot easier on the closest thing the school has to a medic.

While it could be easy to think that it would be nice staying in the school all the time, it could get quite exhausting, which is a sentiment that she is well aware that Omar shares. The two of them are rarely allowed to leave the safety of the walls. Both of them are considered too 'important' to risk. Ruby always scoffed at Marlon's reasoning, yet she knew he wasn't wrong. She's the only one with any knowledge in medical skills, and has been since Ms. Martin disappeared in the greenhouse.

She frowns at the thought of Ms. Martin. During the clearing out of the greenhouse, they found the old nurse, dead and turned, where she had zip-tied herself to the greenhouse. Later that day they managed to bring her to the graveyard, and give her a proper burial, something she was left without for far too long. 

Ruby shakes her head at herself. Currently she sits in the old nurse's office, the room just to the left of the administrative building's entrance. Since Ms. Martin died, the office had practically become her room. She runs through what limited supplies they have for the millionth time today alone, frowning at how low they're running. With everyone getting hurt left and right, the medical resources have been wearing thin.

The past few years, the worst injuries they ever really got were bloody noses from tripping, or maybe the occasional burn on Aasim or Omar's part. Well, Violet's sprained ankle was a big deal when it happened about two years ago. She had been getting out of that damn bell tower of hers, when she jumped a bit too high and landed on it weird. The girl had shouted curses somethin' fierce, and received an earful from Ruby. The ankle never really set correctly, so she's got that makeshift brace around it so she doesn't go and break it fully while running from walkers, or something.

Now, since Clementine and AJ have arrived, the school has been burning through their medical supplies. Hopefully, once everything is finally done with the Delta, now that they're waiting for them to raid like sitting ducks, they'll be able to finally leave the safezone to go find supplies. Something they really needed was some sort of antiseptic, and some more bandages. Infection is literally the cause of this apocalypse, and Ruby would prefer to prevent any deaths from a simple infected cut. 

Ruby gets to her feet, brushing off her legs, and walks out of the room, gently shutting the door behind her, a good habit gained from trying to avoid waking up injured kids that needed sleep. Right now, Ruby needs to work on finding either Violet or Clementine. Clementine is likely the easiest to find, seeing as the girl is constantly all over the place, trying to be helpful. 

Ruby pauses a moment in the large foyer. The lack of music coming from down the hall gives Ruby an uncomfortable feeling. Of course, it's good that Louis is finally doing something else, but seeing as all of what he had been doing the past few days is stay with Marlon holed up in his room, it's a bit disconcerting.

She shakes her head, pushing open the large door of the admin building, and steps into the courtyard. While it isn't particularly bustling with activity, it's nice to see that so many people are busy. While no one had ever truly not do much, save for Louis or Tenn, it was common to see everyone dilly dallying through their chores, or sitting around. Now, everyone seems to be busy, having Clementine whip them all into shape for preparations for the Delta. 

Tenn is painting a banner with AJ, a warning for the upcoming attackers. Louis seems to be, with little skill, practicing archery. Aasim and Brody seem to be arguing about the position of a walker head on a stake, while Mitch appears to be preparing a bomb of some sort, with Clementine watching over and assisting occasionally. The only ones missing in action are Omar, Marlon, and Violet. 

Omar is probably off doing his own thing, while Violet is, seeing as she's not out here, likely in Ericson's office, or boarding off the back entrance by the greenhouse. Marlon, on the other hand, she has absolutely no doubt that he's sulking in Louis' room. The boy had made himself scarce, and the only interaction Ruby had had with him, at the greenhouse, he seemed very anxious.

According to Louis, the boy has been working himself into a frenzy trying to think of what to do, to apologize to everyone, particularly Brody, and if the twins returned, them. Ruby had scoffed at that, before telling him if he really wanted to make up for what he did, that he should be getting ready for the attack. Louis had only shrugged, before turning to the piano, and beginning the same tune she had heard so much it was ingrained in her head, from hearing it from the nurse's office constantly.

Now, however, Ruby needs to focus on talking to Clementine about their lack of medical supplies. She makes her way over to Mitch and Clementine, and just as she arrives Clementine turns to walk away, with perfect timing.

"Clementine," Ruby starts. The capped girl tilts her head slightly. "I need to talk to you about the medical supplies." Clementine nods, and the two walk a bit away, more towards the wall.

"So, what is it?" Clementine inquires, and Ruby shakes her head.

"We're starting to run low on just about everything other than thread for stitches. If anyone else gets hurt, we may not be able to prevent infection." 

Clementine rubs her chin in thought. "Where have you been getting supplies before now?" She asks. Ruby shrugs.

"Around, I guess. The nurse's office mostly, but some work closets and offices had first aid kits." She answers, not entirely sure beyond that. Clementine huffs.

"What about the rest of the school? Surely there's more supplies laying around somewhere."   
Ruby's eyes widen, and rubs her arm anxiously. Marlon forbid them from going past the boundaries blocking off the halls, saying the risk of walkers was too high. "It's all blocked off. Marlon doesn't want to risk us." Clementine arches an eyebrow.

"Well, Marlon isn't in charge now, is he?" Ruby hesitates for a moment. Clem is right, if she let them, then all the students could start going around the rest of the school. "Once we deal with the raiders, we can start plans to deal with the rest of the school. Will the supplies last long enough?" 

Ruby nods. "Most likely." Clementine smiles.

"Well, good. I'm going to get back to checking in on everybody." She says, pointing at no one in general, and Ruby nods once more.

"Alright Clementine. Thank you." Clementine taps the rim of her hat.

"Of course." She says with a genuine smile, before making herself scarce. Ruby smiles a bit to herself, no longer sure of what to do. Luckily, it seems that the medical supplies will no longer be too much of a problem.

The red head starts walking around the courtyard, before making her way back towards the admin building. She didn't do much, sure, but it sure as hell would be a generally positive thing for the school.

She makes her way to the music room, deciding to sit down at the small table to think. So much has been changing around the school, mostly for the better. Marlon had always kept a strict hold on things under the guise of keeping them all safe. Now that they had learned he traded of the twins, and that he was planning on trading off Clementine and AJ, it was clear that “keeping them all safe” was a load of bullshit. 

The door to the room squeals as it swings open. Ruby turns to see who enters, and pinches the bridge of her nose at the sight of a grinning Louis.

“Why hello there, Ruby. You know what today is perfect weather for? Some lovely music.” He says as he makes his way to the piano. Ruby groans, letting her head thud against the table. She wishes she had something to do today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ruby's chapter! only 2 more left and we can get back to clementine and violet. itll be more of what happens before the raider attack. i really wish that we could have seen what happened some more in the game. anyways, i really appreciate all the kind comments! im pleased to hear that everyone seems to be enjoying reading this as much as i enjoy writing it at like 2am


	22. Chapter 22

The anxiety of waiting for the raiders is nearly unbearable. The weight of the anxiety, mixed with the anger at Marlon for what he did is pressing down on Mitch like some shitty accordion player. Having to go with the very boy he was angry with to clear out the greenhouse certainly didn't help. Now, however, he has to wait, and prepare, well, a bomb. 

The preparation of the bomb is of course easy. It's not hard to make a decent explosive with common items. Unfortunately, finding the materials is always a problem. Right now, getting a goddamn igniter that works like it's supposed to is pissing Mitch off to no end. The one he had grabbed in the lab at the greenhouse is rusted to hell and back, and now he has to go find another one. 

The boy grumbles gibberish at himself as he frustratedly makes his way to the front gate. Currently, with all the blockades, the only way to the greenhouse is through a minor breach in the school, where a gate had fallen off its hinges. Honestly, he can't even remember, or care to remember what happened. To be fair, it had happened right at the start of the literal apocalypse, and Mitch wasn't nearby at the time.

As he walks towards the gate, he waves up at Willy in the watchtower.

"Hey, Mitch! Where you going?" The boy calls down. 

"To the greenhouse. This goddamn igniter fucking sucks!" He responds as he pushes the gate open, grabbing his knife in case a walker decides he'd make a nice meal on his way over.

"Okay! Be careful." The boy yells, and Mitch throws him an "okay" with his hand.

The walk around the wall isn't long, but it sure is annoying. He just wishes that they could tear down the blockades in the hallway by the stairs. It would probably be safer to do that, and it would be less of a hassle to get to the greenhouse. 

Honestly, having to deal with Marlon's overprotectiveness for all nine or so years has just been annoying. Several times now they've nearly starved themselves because they couldn't go past the safe zone. That and his overall "keeping everyone safe" spiel that ended up being a load of bullshit with what he did to the twins.

Damn, the twins. They didn't... They didn't deserve to be traded off. Sure, Mitch can be an asshole sometimes, and the twins weren't foreign to his dickish behavior, but they were still his friends. He particularly spent a _lot_ of time around Sophie. The two were close, and she was practically his best friend. 

The two of them liked to run around the school between classes, drawing and writing stupid shit on the walls, and making soda bombs to fuck with teachers. The two of them spent a lot of time in detention together, basically. When Marlon and Brody came back without the twins that day, Mitch was obviously devastated. He and Brody had spent time consoling each other, as Brody was even closer to the twin than he was. 

He tightens his grip on the knife, teeth clenched. Brody knew the entire damn time. She knew that they hadn't actually died, yet she had the audacity to lie directly to his face as the two of them consoled each other. Mitch knows he shouldn't be mad at her. Marlon forced her to lie, because he's a coward. That's what he is, and always has been. He nearly starved the school because he's a coward, and then he ended up trading off Mitch's best friend and her sister to save his own skin.

It hurts to be betrayed by his friend, his leader. It hurts to be lied to, and tricked by someone he should trust. He feels like a fucking fool, believing Marlon's lies, and not noticing something was wrong. Not only does he have to deal with this shit like everyone else, he has to let it fester and bubble. He can't break down and cry about it. He's not like that, no matter how much he wants to sometimes. 

Mitch is a lot of things. A crier is not one of them. Instead, to get everything out, he goes and kills walkers. Unfortunately, that isn't a good idea right now. He's out here on his own, and the only one who knows is Willy. As much as he loves the kid, he looks up to Mitch way too much, and vastly overestimates his skills. He could be out here as long as he wanted, and Willy wouldn't be worried at all. It's... concerning.

The boy makes his way around the wall, careful to avoid tripping over the gate that no one had bothered with, and no one probably will until the school gets cleared out. He pushes open the door to the empty greenhouse, the planters cleaned up a bit, and the building generally tidied up as Ruby had started working in there. Currently, however, the building is empty, save for him. 

He shuffles his way into the lab, the door already opened. The chalkboard in the back of the room is still covered in... something plant related. He opens cabinets and drawers, rummaging through random shit no one had seen or touched in years. Finally, he finds another igniter. He squeezes it, and it sparks easily. He grins at his success, shoving it in his pocket. 

The past few days Mitch mostly spent coming up with ideas to defend the school, and of course, perfecting the bombs. He hadn't spent time doing much else, really. He wasn't going to be obvious about it, but he was really, really fucking scared. If something happened to Willy, Mitch will probably single-handedly take down those stupid raiders with nothing but his two hands. 

The thoughts of the raiders bring him back to the twins. They could still be alive. Mitch can't do much else about that but hope that Sophie kept herself out of trouble, and that Minnie hadn't gotten herself killed or something. Mitch shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. 

Might as well get back to... He scratches his head. He's already in the school, so he can't really... get back to it, now, can he? Whatever. He exits the greenhouse, and then leaves the safety of the walls for a short amount of time as he walks around to the front.

He comes around the corner, and approaches the gate, and is greeted with the typical sight of Willy pointing a bow at him. "It's me, Willy." he shouts up with a sigh. The young boy lowers the bow, and looks down at him with his gnarly smile.

"Sorry, Mitch!" Mitch shrugs, entering the courtyard, the gate creaking to a shut behind him.

He walks over to the table where his bomb sits, and continues his work on it. If this thing didn't ignite, then the whole plan would be screwed, and they'd all be kidnapped and shipped off to war. Mitch hunches his shoulders over himself, frowning frustratedly as he squeezes the igniter, the metal and flint practically squeaking as it creates a spark. 

He would get this to work. He wouldn't fail everyone, and if he did, well, he doesn't like to think about what'll happen if shit goes wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, this ones a bit rushed! only aasim is left, and then back to clem and vi


	23. Chapter 23

It's the middle of the night, 5 days after Clem came back to the school with Marlon in tow. That means it's been 5 days of waiting for the raiders. The only reason that Aasim is even awake right now is because he has watch soon. Fortunately he got a few hours of sleep after dinner, but that doesn't mean it's any less annoying to have to wake up so late into the night. Well, he still woke up earlier than he needed to, so now he has a bit of free time.

Mitch is on watch before him, and as much as Aasim would appreciate something to do during his short wait, he would rather set his bed on fire than sit with that particular hothead right now. Come to think of it, Aasim would gladly set something on fire right about now. Unfortunately, that would be a hassle to put out, and while usually he wouldn't bother about the post-flame issues, it's too late to be dealing with that.

So, instead of setting something on fire, or talking to Mitch for a while, Aasim decides to enter the administration building again. As usual, the large foyer is a cluttered mess, something that constantly drove the boy practically up the wall and out the window. The nurse's office door sits shut tight to his left, where Ruby is likely to be. The hallway to the right is eerily silent, an unsurprising detail based on what the time roughly is, and just beyond the silent music room are everyone's dorms, save for Clem, AJ, and Omar's rooms. 

The room is dark, little moonlight making its way through the massive windows above the staircase. It's not much compared to the sunlight during the day, but it's enough. Aasim decides to start dealing with a pile of furniture to the left of the hallway down to the dorms. The precariously stacked desks have driven him crazy since... whoever it was, decided to stack them there.

The boy carefully pulls the desks down, one by one. They aren't particularly heavy, but the weight distribution makes it fairly difficult, and by the time that he's set all 6 or so of them are placed onto flat ground, he's already puffing a bit. He looks over the desks and growls at himself. It probably would've been easier to have just left them where they were. 

"Well..." He mutters to himself. If someone bumped into the pile, it could have easily fallen and hurt someone. On the other hand, they went nearly 10 years stacked there, and nothing bad happened. 

He sits there for a moment, scowling at himself, before shrugging. Whatever, at least they weren't piled up so horribly now. Aasim grabs the desks one by one, pulling them behind the staircase. No one ever went back there, plus the only door back there was blocked off by a pile of trash, dirty clothes that no one fits into anymore, and more precariously stacked desks. 

Once the desks are stacked neatly- and safely- behind the staircase, Aasim stops in the middle of the still cluttered foyer and scratches at his head. Where the hell did these desks come from anyone? Why would anyone drag them from the classrooms? There would be literally no reason for that. He only sighs to himself. Probably the same reasons why everyone decided to cover the walls in writing the second the teachers left. Not like anyone was around to give him the actual answer, though. Everyone is either asleep, or Mitch.

It's not like Aasim doesn't like Mitch, or something. He can just be a bit... much. They bond over destruction through fire and explosives, sure, and they both can be a bit hot-headed, for sure. Unfortunately, Mitch's fuse has been rather short lately. Aasim smacks his own forehead. He needs to stop spending time around Louis, that was a _really_ bad joke. After Marlon ran off Mitch was getting ticked off at the slightest things, ready to jump down anyone's throat at the smallest annoyance. It kind of is driving Aasim crazy, and usually Aasim is the angry one.

Aasim isn't sure how long it took to set up the desks neatly, but surely it wasn't long. Honestly, he isn't entirely sure how everyone seemed to know when it was time to switch watch shifts. The only one with a watch is Omar, and that thing had been dead for ages, and all the clocks that aren't digital have been wrong for years. However, a stopped clock is right twice a day. Not very useful if you don't know _when_ it's right, though.

Aasim looks around the foyer once more. It's practically just as cluttered as it was before, just, minus the pile of desks. He sighs, before stepping outside into the courtyard once again. Mitch is still in the watchtower, his chair tipped back as he tosses a knife in the air and catches it. Aasim scoffs, and shakes his head as he walks over. Not like he has much else to do...

"You know, if you hurt yourself, we might not have the supplies to help." There's a dull thud, likely the chair being set down on all fours again, and Mitch leans over the edge, raising an eyebrow.

"Really? You think I don't know what I'm doing?" Aasim rolls his eyes. "You come to free me from my shift, or to torment me about knife safety?" 

Aasim pauses for a moment, considering his options just before he begins his ascent up the ladder. "The latter." He comes face to face with Mitch at the top, who's brows furrow. Aasim scoffs. "I'm going to join you," He pauses, "Until it's my shift. Then you can leave." Mitch considers that for a moment, before nodding.

"Alright. Cool." Aasim sits down in the other chair across from Mitch, looking out over the wall.  
The two are quiet for seconds, or minutes, Aasim isn't sure, before Mitch breaks it.

"All of this is really fucked up." His voice cuts through the quiet.

"What is?" Aasim arches an eyebrow. 

"Everything. Being abandoned here by our parents. The literal apocalypse. The raiders." He sighs with frustration. Aasim shrugs.

"Yeah. It's... it's pretty fucked up." 

The two fall quiet, before Aasim can't help but ask, seeing as he rarely has one on one conversations with the other boy. "Do you think your parents tried to get to you?" 

"Do you?" The boy cuts through with a deep frown.

Aasim just shakes his head. "No." Mitch's expression softened, and he looks back away from him, into the woods. 

"I don't think mine did either." 

The rest of Mitch's watch is silent, wordless, until the boy leaves to get as much shut-eye as he can. Aasim sits there, staring into the trees, counting the walkers until the Sun peaks over the horizon, and Willy comes to take over. 

He climbs down the ladder, and stretches, the younger boy climbing up as Aasim walks away. There's likely another hour or two until everyone starts getting up, so there's nothing stopping him from getting some extra shut-eye. Really, it's expected of him at this point, plus it's not like Clementine would be able to complain, with her own fucked sleep schedule, and Violet never cared too much about people sleeping in.

He walks to the administration building, and down the hall to the right, before collapsing into his room, and right onto his bed. Fuck, he's more tired than expected. ' _At least I don't have hunting in the morning_ ' Is his last thought before sleep overtakes him.

He did, in fact, have hunting in the morning.


	24. Chapter 24

Many things could be used to describe how Violet feels right about now. Uncomfortable is a good one. Maybe even awkward, could fit. Unfortunately, the thing that stands out the most, and is causing Violet to literally stand, is anxious. About 9 days since Violet, and just about everyone else's lives were flipped-turned upside down, and nearly just as many days of waiting for raiders. The waiting, and being cooped up with the person Violet finally accepted she has a crush on, is leading to her pacing up and down between two of the picnic tables.

"Violet, as dear as I hold you to my heart, if you don't stop pacing, I think I may just trip you." Louis says with an airy sigh, his head propped up on his hand as he sits at one of the tables. The girl rolls her eyes, finally stopping her anxious habit, sitting across from him at the table. "Now, that's much better." he says with that cheeky grin of his. "So, what's go you more antsy than that antpile that Willy accidentally sat on once?"

"What do you think, Lou?" She deadpans with an unamused expression.

Louis only shrugs, feigning ignorance. "Why, I wouldn't have the slightest clue." Violet scoffs, shaking her head.

"You damn well know that waiting on these raiders fuckin' sucks." She answers, and Louis nods.

"Well, yeah. Of course I do, but you don't see anyone else wearing a hole in the floor."

"Your pestering is wearing a hole in my patience." 

Louis raises an eyebrow. "Vi..." Violet pinches the bridge of her nose. "That was... terrible."

"Yeah, I know." She grumbles.

The two surprisingly go quiet for a spell, and Violet retreats back into her own head. The past few days have been unsettlingly quiet. Nothing has gone wrong, no new injuries. Marlon started walking around more, once again, however kept to himself. As much as Violet wants to hate him, for what he did to the twins and to Brody, she's relieved that he's generally doing alright. Sure, he still is dealing with all the unpleasant chores, but he's no less a member of the group as anyone else in the school. 

Violet's thoughts are interrupted by a hand being waved oh-so rudely in her face. 

"Earth to Violet!" Louis says loudly, an eyebrow hitched high up on his brow. Violet shoots a glare at him, which he chooses not to notice. "Ah! Good to see you're still with us."

"Unfortunately." She says, and the boy pats her shoulder from across the table.

"Now, that's no way to talk, champ! I'm going to go inside and polish up my piano playing mastery." 

Violet gives him a confused look as he stands up and begins to walks away. "Did you call me champ? What am I, a 7 year old boy at the dentist?" Louis only laughs, walking off towards the admin building, deciding not to respond. 

Violet shakes her head as he disappears inside, the door shutting behind him quickly. That boy is really... something else, alright. 

Now that Violet's favorite nuisance is off playing that poor piano's keys off, she looks around the courtyard. Brody sits up in the watchtower, while AJ and Tenn seem to have gotten ahold of Louis' cards, and are playing a game. Aasim, Mitch, and Clementine are off checking the traps, while Omar, Ruby, and Marlon are all somewhere inside, doing their own things.

At first, there was nothing more that Violet wanted than extra time before the raiders attacked. While she certainly wishes that the time would never come, she would be left waiting the whole time. It feels selfish to hope they come soon, if only to soothe her anxieties. Otherwise, without the threat of the Delta looming overhead, the quiet is nice. 

One other thing was bothering her. On her hunting trips, Violet still hasn't run into that weird James guy that Clem told her about. Of course, the forest was big, with lots of places to hide. But still, knowing someone knows where the school is without her knowing them leaves a pit in Violet's stomach. Of course, Clementine trusted him, and with that Violet wants to trust him as well. Sadly, it's difficult to trust someone you've never met. 

Violet drums her fingers against the edge of the table anxiously, eyes continuously scanning the courtyard. While expected, the lack of any difference each time her eyes go back and forth is unsettling. She knows it’s unrealistic, but she can’t help but feel that everyone is too… carefree. Almost as if they don’t care about the threat looming overhead. It frustrates her to no end, how they can be so distracted. How they’re allowing themselves to let her guard down, when she can’t do so herself.

Of course, she knows that she’s being ridiculous, and she isn’t going to pick a fight with anyone for appreciating the calm before the storm. It’s just… the waiting has everyone on edge, some more so than others. Violet feels like she’s starting to plummet over the edge. 

So much so, that she gets up from the table, and decides she’d like to go outside. Sure, that’s risky with the raiders in the woods, knowing where they are, and she’d like to… not run into James on her own, but she needs a break from being holed up inside the school.

She places a hand at her belt, making sure her knife is still in its place, before making her way over to the gate. She’s barely even touching the cold metal before a voice calls from the watchtower above.

“Hey Vi, where are you headed off to?” Brody calls down, peaking over the shallow wall. Violet shrugs.

“Not too sure. Blow off some steam, maybe see if I can find something to eat.” She responds. Brody nods.

“Cool, Cool. Hey, if you run into Clementine out there, could you tell her to come talk to me? I’m not sure if she’s out there or inside, but I haven’t seen her today.” Violet raises a sceptical eyebrow.

“...Alright then?” Brody beams.

“Awesome! Be careful, try not to die.” 

Violet scoffs. “Sure, mom.” The gate creaks loudly as it swings open, Violet grabbing the bars just before it can slam into the stone wall and make a teeth-clatteringly loud bang. For whatever reason, it was normal for everyone at the school to call each other ‘mom’. Violet doesn’t really understand it, as her mom kind of sucked, however, Violet was always the kid who answered “yes” to the question “if all your friends decided to jump off a bridge, would you?”. Her friends would say it, and it stuck.

How it feels to walk through the woods always feels like rolling a rigged set of dice. It feels completely random, whether a feeling of dread or calm was gained from a walk through the trees that Violet knows like the back of her hand. Some days the woods seemed devoid of not-really-alive life, and other times business in the walker department seemed booming.

Today, luck is on Violet’s side. The woods are quiet. There’s no distant walker groans, no crunching leaves as they take sloppy steps across the floor. It’s peaceful enough that Violet almost forgets about the raiders. Almost.

The steps quietly through the trees, making her way down a long-familiarized path towards the stream. Of course, she isn’t planning on fishing. This is one of the few days where there’s nothing for her to do, no hunting or fishing scheduled, and no watch. A day off. Instead, she’s going to sit at the bridge, and watch the water flow past. 

Violet makes her way to the bridge, walking over it and towards the shack. She rarely gets time alone out here, but whenever she does, she makes sure to check inside the cabin. Not that she’s worried about getting jumped by a walker, of course. However, being startled by one of the other kids a few times, and nearly putting an arrow through Aasim’s skull once led her to making a habit of being sure. 

She places her ear against the door, listening carefully for a few careful seconds. When no movement is heard, she knocks on the door twice, gently, a small warning in case anyone actually happened to be in there, before pushing it open and looking inside.

Empty. Violet sighs with relief, before closing the door, and walking back onto the old bridge. The railing is rickety, and probably wouldn’t hold anything much heavier than Violet. Luckily, years in an apocalyptic world in which food is scarce, leads to probably the most unwanted weight gain and stunted growth. She leans forward against the railing, pressing as much weight against it as she dares, staring at the water as it rushes past her.

Soon everything with the raiders will be over. Everyone will be safe. Home. Hopefully, Minnie and Sophie will be okay, still alive. Hopefully they forgive everyone for not looking for them. 

Violet frowns at the thought of the twins, particularly Minerva. She wouldn’t dare admit it aloud, but… She doesn’t think she really has feelings for the redhead anymore. Of course, she still misses her with her whole heart, but a whole year since they had last seen each other. A whole year of change. So much had happened, and so much is different now.

Violet is in charge with the help of someone the twins will likely have never met. The twins, Minerva in particular are probably far more rough. Sure, Sophie was already at times abrasive, and difficult to get along with. But now, for all they know, the two of them could be completely different. To expect Violet to still love the girl she hadn’t know was even alive for a full year would be a bit… ridiculous. 

Violet just sighs, and continues to stare at the water. The sound of the gently flowing water is relaxing. She knows it’s dangerous to let her guard down out in the open, but it’s fairly difficult not to. 

Then, a twig snaps down the path back to the school, and Violet is instantly whirling around, eyes narrowed, and butcher’s knife alright in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ASJdhKAJ im SO sorry for the wait! i was at my mothers house for MUCH longer than anticipated OR wanted. plus, i got super infatuated with stranger things again, what with the new season and all that. Dont worry though, im back now! i wouldnt abandon this! anyways. sorry if this one has any mistakes or anything doesnt seem to fit! i wrote a small chunk of it just before leaving, and sort of left myself to flounder when i came back. a tip, if you write: if you leave yourself off at a strange point, and are prepared to turn in for the night, or week, or whatever, make sure to leave yourself a note so you know how to pick it back up. if your brain goes "eh, ill remember!". you wont. dont listen to it. its wrong. you will forget.
> 
> anyways! i really, REALLY appreciate all the kind comments so very much!!! they make me really happy to read, and if it takes me a while to respond/i dont respond at all, ive read it, and i still appreciate it! hopefully i wont leave yall for so long again d:
> 
> [EDIT 7/23] OKAY so it seems that i am a VERY distractable person. I may have to officially put this on a little bit of a break. I have several books to read and plenty of school work to do before the year actually starts, and ive been putting that off for zombie and cannibal video games. Sorry to leave everyone on a little cliff hanger, but i promise i wont abandon this! Ill be back as soon as ive completed my school work, which i havent done already because i was stressing over this, and i wasnt doing this because i was stressing over that. And then i remedied that with the forest and dying light. Yikes. Anyways, ill write some more soon, and i should respond to yalls comments an hour or two before the next chapter is out, whenever that is!


	25. Still, not a chapter ):

Hi, everyone! I feel horrible about this, and also abt the fact that im adding a chapter AGAIN and having it not be an actualy chapter, but i feel like this little announcement is worthy of a nice little bump.

Unfortunately ive currently hit, like, seventy bumps in the road. Ive lost all my motivation for twdg for the time being, and have begun moving along to other interests again. Im sure that eventually ill drift back over to loving this game just as much as i did before (dont get me wrong, i still love all the characters and their journey so much!) but right now my interests are firmly with other things, and even with that, i simply MUST focus on school.

Im currently just above a failing grade in my most important, high gpa-affecting class, which also happens to be ap euro, literally the hardest history class in my entire school. Yippee. Sophomore year FUCKS yall. But YEAH i really need to focus on it, along with my other classes as ive been severely lacking (none other than that one class are below an 85 but i have SEVERE anxiety my loves)

So YEAH. Currently going on an indefinite hiatus, which, again, i feel so awful about ESPECIALLY after making such a big deal about having a scheduled date for several new chapters. I swear i started them, its just that none of them got past planning, for several reasons ranging from leaving myself off at a shitty point to just genuine non-motivation.

Ive decided im not going to make any more promises, and instead and just going to say that once the interest returns, i will try my damndest to update this, or maybe even just rewrite the whole damn thing.

While i wont be updating this for however long it takes for me to become content with like. My life. I may write fics for other things, with my current minor obsession being the last of us, particularly dina/ellie. But yeah.i may have a thing for zombies. Anyways. Me am big homo and also love yall for sticking around. I wont ever forget this fic, and i never did before! See yall around!!


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